RUSTON, La. — Despite a strong first few innings, Ruston High (10-15) fell by a final score of 10-5 to Airline (19-9) Monday night at home for senior night and must now await the official end of the regular season in the state to see if they will be playing in the postseason.
“I thought we hit the ball well tonight,” Ruston High head coach Lauren Garvie said. “We hit a team-wide slump for a long time, and I thought our bats woke up tonight. I thought we got cheated on a few calls, but that didn’t make or break the game. I’m proud of how my girls played tonight. They fought hard. Rilee Atwood in the circle for us tonight — she’s a senior and said “I’m going to come out here and throw with everything I have.” And she threw very well tonight.”
After Airline put a run on the board in the top of the first, freshman Aubrey Stoehr answered with a solo home run on a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall to lead off the bottom of the first inning for a 1-1 score.
The Lady Vikings then scored three runs in the top of the second and another in the top of the third, putting Ruston behind 5-1 going into the bottom of the third.
After both Skylar Bowers and Stoehr reached base in back-to-back at-bats, Atwood would single into center field and score Bowers. Senior Morgan Foster then fit a triple into center field and score both Atwood and Stoehr to cut the lead to 5-4. Finally, junior Abby Holton singled into right field to score Foster to tie the game 5-5.
The Lady Vikings would then get the lead back in the top of the fourth for a 6-5 score and extend the lead further with runs in the sixth and seventh innings for the 10-5 victory.
Foster would finish with two triples on the night while Stoehr had three hits in four at-bats.
“(Morgan) Foster hit very well tonight,” Garvie said. “You could see her excitement — she lands on third, and I think she almost burst a vocal cord. And then she got dead-armed by a ball (catching), and I asked her if she wanted to throw out, and she said she was fine and wanted to go.”
Prior to first pitch, the Lady Bearcats honored five seniors in their final game of the regular season: Mia Tapia, Jaiden Feeheley, Foster, Holton, and Atwood.
Ruston must now wait until Wednesday for the final brackets to be released to see if the Lady Bearcats will be in the postseason. Entering the contest with Airline, Geauxpreps.com’s unofficial power rankings had Ruston just outside the cutoff to make the playoffs.
Regardless of the postseason fate, Garvie shared her appreciation for her senior class who were sophomores when she was hired as the head coach.
“I am very grateful for this class, because they could have fought me at the coaching change, but they didn’t, and I’m very proud of who they are,” Garvie said. “We have a monthly calendar, and it has dates listed all the way to the end. So we take that for what it is — we expect to be on the field (in the postseason). And if we’re not, we say thank you to each other for playing so hard this season.
“I didn’t know what I was getting into coming to Ruston — I’m from South Texas. But this senior class worked very hard the whole time they were here. Jaden may not be a first team all-district selection, but she’s been a workhorse for us. Mia was a manager and wanted to try out and help the team. Abby has produced so much this year. Morgan is a great player, and Rilee could have not chosen to be in the circle and pitch as hard as she does. I’m very proud of who they are.”
