Dexter softball team collects crucial district, conference win at Bernie 7-4

Note: A photo gallery of the Bernie-Dexter softball game is available at this link: View Photos Here

BERNIE, Mo. - The Dexter Bearcats varsity girls softball team rebounded from an 11-0 loss at Kennett Tuesday afternoon in a big way Wednesday when it secured a 7-4 road win at defending SCAA tournament champion Bernie.

"This is our big rival," Dexter softball coach Chris Bolin said after beating Bernie. "They are a conference team and it's a big rival in the district now. This was a good measuring sick for us and I'm very pleased with how we played, but I told the girls after the game 'I anticipate the district to be tough and I anticipate Bernie to be a different team, but even with that said this was a good win.'"

The Bearcats never trailed the Bernie Mules Wednesday.

Dexter scored two unearned runs in the top of the first inning for an early 2-0 advantage. A sacrifice fly by Lari Spitzer in the bottom of the first inning and another by Tori Lowrey in the bottom of the third inning helped the Mules tie things up at 2-2 after three innings.

Dexter added its other five runs in the top of the fourth inning to move ahead 7-2 and never trailed after. Ashley Brown, Dakota Silliman and Amber Spence had RBI singles for Dexter in the fourth. Kirsten Durrow also calculated an RBI in the fourth frame on a fielder's choice.

"We made a lot of physical mistakes," Bernie softball coach Brad Botsch said. "Dexter put the ball in play and we had eight physical errors. You really put yourself in a bind trying to win games when you make that many mistakes, but hopefully we will learn from them and get better as the season goes on."

Bernie threatened in a big way in the bottom of the sixth inning when it sent seven hitters to the plate and recorded three of its five hits.

Bernie No. 8 hitter Addie Shelton cut the deficit to 7-3 when she recorded the first out on a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Leadoff hitter Morgan Baker added a two-out RBI single later in the sixth to trim Dexter's lead to 7-4.

Baker advanced to second on an error to put runners at second and third with two outs. Stevenson escaped the jam with the lead intact when she struck out Jescie McGwire looking with No. 3 hitter Lowrey on deck.

"That sixth inning was really the inning," Bolin said. "Bernie had some stuff going offensively and started to hit the ball. They scored a couple that inning and had runners at second and third. It was a key to get out of that inning. These kind of situations are what will help us going forward, especially in the county and district."

Both pitchers went the distance in the circle.

Stevenson earned a win. She allowed four runs, five hits, walked five and struck out nine.

"I was very pleased with how Kendra performed on the mound," Bolin said. "Offensively, we've still got a long way to go, but we are getting there."

Blakely Bradshaw was credited with the loss. She struck out four and walked two.

"I thought Blakely threw extremely well," Botsch said. "She threw strikes all day and we've just got to do a better job of backing her up."

Dexter improves to 3-2 on the season, 3-1 in SCAA Conference play and 2-0 against district opponents with the victory. Dexter has conference wins against Bernie, Bloomfield and Advance and a conference loss to Woodland.

Bernie dropped to 2-2 on the season and 0-1 in SCAA Conference play with the loss. Scott City beat Bernie later Wednesday evening 7-6.

"We have a sharp learning curve," Botsch said. "We've got to grow up quick. We've got a lot of young players out here. Right now we've only got four players that played last year on the field, but that's no excuse and we've got to find a way to get the young ones to step up and play better and the older ones to lead.

"I think we we'll get there eventually, it's just we've got to grow up quickly and get better," Botsch added. "I think they are coachable and want to do that, we've just got a lot of work to do, yet."

The action heats up Saturday when Bernie and Dexter both compete in the Swing Pink Softball Tournament at Dexter. Bernie and Dexter will both play three games Saturday. No. 5 seeded Dexter will play No. 4 seeded Neelyville Saturday at 11 a.m. in Bracket A and No. 5 seeded Bernie will play No. 4 seeded Scott City Saturday at 9 a.m. in Bracket B.

"Swing Pink is a massive tournament," Bolin said. "There are 16 teams from all over southeast Missouri competing in two tournaments at the same time on four fields. I think from just looking at the brackets it's going to be a really competitive in both brackets. We start with Neelyville and we are just hoping the weather stays away from us."

Softball: Dexter 7, Bernie 4

DHS 200 500 0 - 7 9 1

BHS 101 002 0 - 4 5 6

WP - Kendra Stevenson. LP - Blakely Bradshaw. Multiple hits - Dexter: Kirsten Durrow 2-4, Dakota Silliman 2-4; Bernie: none.