Millard South took its first step toward serious contention for the Class A softball title Saturday with a 3-0 victory over top-ranked Papillion-La Vista in the final of the Omaha Marian invitational tournament.

The Patriots narrowly missed qualifying for last year's state tournament despite a 20-10 record. Almost every player from that team is back, and coach Steve Kerkman said that experience is paying off with a 6-0 start.

“I knew it would be tough, playing the No. 1, 3 and 4 teams right away, so we'll take the wins wherever we can get them,” he said.

Millard South opened with a win over Bellevue East before a doubleheader road sweep Monday of last year's Class A runner-up, Lincoln North Star.

The fourth-ranked Patriots earned their spot in the championship game by defeating No. 3 Papillion-La Vista South 2-1 in the semifinals at Seymour Smith after a 13-1 romp Friday over district rival Millard North.

Papio South defeated Millard West 3-0 in the third-place game as winning pitcher Micaela Whitney also drove in two of the Titans' three runs.

Marian defeated Millard North 4-1 for fifth place, and Omaha Burke routed Bellevue East 13-0 in three innings for seventh.

Millard South handed Papillion-La Vista its first loss in a regular-season tournament since 2007. back-to-back singles by Blake Ringle and Jordan King set up a two-run triple to the gap in right-center field by Morgan Peterson off Oregon recruit Karissa Hovinga.

That was all the runs winning pitcher Chrissy Harris would need as she recorded six strikeouts and scattered six hits.

The Patriots added one more run in the fifth inning when Taylor Hufferd hit a one-out single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.

Hovinga also had six strikeouts and gave up six hits, but the 4-1 Monarchs weren't able to string any of those together for run-scoring rallies.

Their most serious threat came in the fourth inning when Molly Middleton and Lexi Murphy led off with back-to-back singles, but two outs to the third base side and a strikeout ended that threat.

The Monarchs left five runners on base after leaving stranding 12 stranded in their 2-1, eight-inning semifinal victory over Millard West. Papillion coach Todd Petersen said some things are going to have to must change quickly if for the Monarchs expect to do any better in their Tuesday regular-season rematch with the Patriots.

“If we play like that we won't even be in the game,” Petersen said. “We were given opportunities to score runs in both games, and we didn't take advantage of that. This game we seemed to be looking for an opportunity to fail, and what's disturbing about that is it's kids who have been around here.”

Millard South (6-0).................200 010 0—3 6 1

Papillion-La Vista (4-1)..................000 000 0—0 6 0

At Seymour Smith

W-Chrissy Harris (3-0). L-Karissa Hovinga (3-1). 3B-MS, Morgan Peterson (2).

Contact the writer:

490-9714, alexsdad@mail.com

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