Wildcats down Eagles in 2-1A Regional final

YATES CENTER -- Uniontown's softball team wrapped up the season with a split in the Yates Center Class 2-1A Regional Tournament here Tuesday.

That capped a challenging two weeks for the Eagles, who dropped doubleheaders earlier to Humboldt and Jayhawk Linn.

Uniontown (11-9) opened Regional play with a 20-0 romp over Altoona-Midway, behind a 15-hit attack and a dominating pitching performance from Taylor Wade.

Daryan Herring collected 3 hits to lead the winners, with Wade, Brit Stokes, Torrie Hathaway, Mandie Ridge and Holly Shinn getting 2 each, with Shinn's total including a double.

Wade (6-3) gave up 3 hits, and didn't issue a walk, while notching 8 strikeouts.

In the Regional Final, the Eagles dropped a 13-6 outing to top-seeded host Yates Center.

Uniontown's bats were still connecting, with 14 hits. But they were unable to bunch them together to generate enough runs.

Taylor Cooper paced her team with 4 safeties, with Lakyn Coyan and Ridge getting 2, with Ridge again rapping a double. Hathaway connected for a 3-run homer.

Yates Center (18-4) got to Uniontown hurler Kyley Brown (5-6), who gave up 12 hits, but only 3 earned runs. She finished with 3 strikeouts, and as many walks.

"We just had too many errors," Uniontown head coach Paula Coyan said. "These were errors that we haven't made all season. But, that's the way it goes. Overall, I am proud of the way the girls played all season long."

Going into the tournament, the team had dropped a pair of close one-run games to Jayhawk-Linn on May 15, both by 2-1 scores.

In the first game, Stokes managed 2 hits, one of those a double.

Brown limited Jayhawk to 4 hits, with 3 strikeouts, and 3 walks.

In game two, Ridge banged out 2 hits, with Hathaway contributing a double.

Wade gave up 5 hits, with 2 walks, on the mound for the Eagles.

Uniontown struggled against Humboldt in 11-1 and 16-1 losses on May 8.

Taylor Cooper and Torrie Hathaway each had hits for the Eagles, while Brown was on the mound and finished with 3 strikeouts and no walks.

In the second game, Stokes and Hathaway each had a hit, while Brown fanned 2 in taking the loss inside the circle.