Kaahu's walk-off says aloha to Hesston

Defensive miscues by the Cardinals — six errors over the two games — allowed four unearned runs to cross the plate.

“That’s two outings in a row we haven’t played great defensively,” Labette head coach Ryan Phillips said. “I told them that I’ll take ugly wins. But these ugly wins will come back to bite us if we don’t hem things up defensively and make quicker adjustments at the plate.”

Labette batters struck out 11 times in Game 1 as the Cardinals’ offense was slow to get going.

“We’ve got to do better at making our progressions,” Phillips said. “We want to have two, three good at-bats going through the lineup. We’ve got to be quicker with our adjustments.” 

Cardinals’ shortstop Kaila Kaahu, a freshman from Hawaii, ripped a walk-off single down the right field line in Game 1.

Kaahu’s winner came after she was pinch-hit for earlier in the game.

“She puts a lot of good bat-to-ball contact,” Phillips said. “It may be a pop up or line drive. That last at-bat, she made an adjustment and came up with that big hit in the eighth.” 

Lexi Miller earned the win in the circle in Game 1 while Raven Hough registered a victory in the series finale.

Miller and Hough have been taken the reins recently in the circle as utility star Ellie Facklam, one of Labette’s best hitters and fielders, has pitched one inning in the last nine games.

“We just mixed it up today with having Lexi go Game 1 and Raven go Game 2,” Phillips said. “Ellie is out there playing third base every day. I’m just trying to give her a little bit of a break in the circle and get more comfortable at third. The three of them have a good mix between them.” 

The two wins for Labette improved the Cardinals’ record to 12-9 overall and 5-0 in KJCCC play.

Labette was originally scheduled to resume a halted game against Kansas City Kansas on Wednesday, but KCK was unable to travel.

A final decision on when and if the game will be resumed has not been made.

Up Next

Labette hits the road on Thursday to face Oklahoma Wesleyan JV in non-conference action. 

Labette is schedule to return home for another non-conference series against Pratt on April 11 before returning to conference play at Fort Scott on April 13.

“We’re just going to get a lot of ground balls and quality reps in practice to try and feel confident,” Phillips said. “That’s our biggest downfall right now. We can’t keep making the same mistake multiple times. Hopefully a little bit of downtime will help.” 

LABETTE VS. HESSTON

Game 1

Labette 7, Hesston 6 (8 inn.)

Hesston: 102 100 20 — 6

Labette:  010 030 21 — 7

Notes

Labette: Winter Snyder 1 H, 2 R; Keira Jackson 1 H, 2 R, 1 RBI; Hayley Bonython 2 H, 3 RBI; Maggie McKee 2 H, 1 R; Katie Crowe 2 R; Elle Slaughter 1 H, 1 RBI; Kaila Kaahu 1 H, 1 RBI; Lexi Miller (W) 8 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Hesston: Payne 1 H; Fatka 1 R, 1 RBI; Peterson 2 H, 2 RBI; Caim 2 R, 1 RBI; Gonzales 1 H; Killingsworth 1 H, 2 RBI; Karako 1 RBI; Gerber 2 H; Williams 1 H; McPhee 1 R; Williams (L) 7.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 11 K

Game 2

Labette 11, Hesston 3 (6 inn.)

Hesston: 020 000 — 3

Labette: 105 005 — 11

Notes

Labette: Winter Snyder 1 H, 2 R; Keira Jackson 1 H, 1 R; Hayley Bonython 1 RBI; Ellie Facklam 2 H, 2 R, 2 RBI; Maggie McKee 4 H, 2 R, 2 RBI; Emma Welch 1 R, 2 RBI; Katie Crowe 1 R, 2 RBI; Abby Tubach 1 H; Elle Slaughter 2 H, 2 RBI; Kaila Kaahu 1 R; Addisyn Fowler 1 R; Raven Hough (W) 6 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 K

Hesston: Payne 1 H, 1 RBI; Fatka 1 H; Peterson 2 H; Caim 2 H; Gonzales 1 H, 1 R; Killingsworth 1 R; Karako 1 H, 1 RBI, 1 R; Gerber 1 H, 1 RBI; McPhee 1 H; Killingsworth (L) 5 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K; Payne 0.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB