A perfect day for softball

Freshman Hannah Geneva pitches to a Coffeyville batter during the second inning of Monday afternoon's first game against Coffeyville. Geneva finished with a perfect game and sophomore Kyenne Wade followed up with another perfect game as the Tigers swept the Golden Tornado. (Kenny Felt/Exclusive to the Tribune)

Hannah Geneva and Kyenne Wade simply blew away the Coffeyville Golden Tornado Monday evening at Don Hewett Field.

Neither Fort Scott High pitcher allowed a baserunner as the undefeated Tigers swept the winless Nado by scores of 10-0 and 20-0 in Southeast Kansas League play.

Because of the run rule in high school, the Tigers (6-0 SEK, 10-0 overall) and Golden Tornado played only eight innings -- three in the nightcap. But in high school, the number of innings doesn't matter: perfection is perfection.

And these performances came after two weeks off. Due to bad weather, the Tigers last played April 9.

Geneva (6-0), a freshman, struck out 13 batters in her game-one win. Only two of the 15 Nado batters she faced put the ball in play -- a groundout to shortstop Delane Gray in the second inning and a pop-up to second baseman Katie Gorman in the fourth.

"She is a very young pitcher and very dominant," Fort Scott head coach Alvin Metcalf said. "It shows, the work she's put in since she's been in sixth grade. Tom Davis has worked with her a lot. She's gone on her own with her dad, hours on end pitching. And it's showing."

In Geneva's last appearance, five innings of relief against Pittsburg in the Fort Scott Tournament on April 5, she didn't allow a hit. In her last 10 innings, she has allowed only one walk while striking out 21 batters. She has retired the last 22 batters she's faced.

Wade (3-0), a sophomore, now has a string of nine hitless innings in her last two starts. She walked 2 and struck out 15 against Parsons in the first game of a doubleheader on April 9. She now has a string of nine hitless innings in which she's allowed 2 walks and struck out 20.

Monday against the Nado, Wade struck out 5 batters. Like in the opener against Gevena, Coffeyville (0-8, 0-10) failed to get a ball out of the infield against her.

Fort Scott's offense belted 10 hits in the opener while taking advantage of four walks and five errors. The game-ending run crossed the plate with one out in the bottom of the fifth as Hannah Tourtillott scored on a Riley Brown groundout -- the Nado chose to throw her out at first instead of preventing Tourtillott to come in from third.

Brown, Wade, Gorman and Shelby Maycumber each had 2 hits for the Tigers. Maycumber drove in 2 runs in the fourth with a double. Tourtillott and Brown each scored twice.

Fort Scott sent as many batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning of the second game as Coffeyville did in the entire first game. That effort was aided by three inside-the-park home runs. Sidney Maycumber bashed a hit to deep left-center for a grand slam. Later in the inning, Brown cranked a long shot to center for a 3-run homer. Two batters later, Gray went to the deepest part of the park for a 2-run homer.

Only three hits were needed to score 8 runs in the second inning as Coffeyville committed 6 errors. Gray brought home 2 more runs with a triple. She finished with 5 runs batted in as she also forced home a run when she was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded during her first plate appearance in the first inning.

Gray, Tourtillott, Bailey Brown and catcher Maddi Allen -- whose "broken ankle" turned out to be a really bad sprain -- each had 2 hits. Both of Allen's came in the first inning.

Riley Brown, Geneva and Gray each scored 3 runs while Tourtillott, Allen, Wade and Bailey Brown each scored 2.

The competition takes a major step up Thursday when Paola comes to town. The Panthers are 10-0 with games at home against Baldwin this afternoon before the come to Don Hewett Field for a non-league doubleheader.

Paola has qualified for the Class 4A State Tournament four times in the last five seasons. The Panthers got there last season by defeating Fort Scott in the Regional final.

"That's going to test our mettle and we'll see where we're at." Metcalf said. "They've got a great team, year in and year out. They've got a great pitcher, Molly Morgan, who's shut us down the last three years. We're looking forward to this game.

"We've played Louisburg and Spring Hill and they've brought some good player with them. But Paola's another step up."

Game One

Fort Scott..... 303 31x x -- 10 10 0

One out when game ended.

WP -- Geneva (6-0). LP -- Ammerman.

Game Two

Fort Scott. (12)8x xxx x -- 20 11 0

WP -- Wade (3-0). LP -- Smith.

HR -- Fort Scott: Si.Maycumber (2, 1st inn., 3 on, none out), R.Brown (1, 1st inn., 2 on, 2 out), Gray (1, 1st inn., 1 on, 2 out).