Erin Childs had a solid showing at home.

Van-Far hosted a cross country meet Tuesday, where the sophomore finished eighth out of 25 runners in the girls high school race to give Van-Far one high school medalist and two junior high medalists.  The top 15 in each race earned medals.

Childs had a time of 26:14, and Elsberry's Ellie Hartley won with a time of 22:14. 

For the boys high school race, Van-Far’s Richard Hayden took 24th out of 26 runners with a time of 27:55. Elsberry had four of the top five finishers, including the winning time of 18:27 set by Dashaun Dodson.

Garrett Hopke and Jayden Hug-Hernandez were the top Van-Far junior high finishers with their respective second- and third-place finishes in the boys race at times of 10:53 and 11:05. 

Softball

Ashenfelter turns up heat, Paris defeats Van-Far 8-3

The more confident Kennedy Ashenfelter got Wednesday at Van-Far, the better she and Paris got.

The sophomore pitcher struck out 13 Lady Indians in Paris’ 8-3 victory, retiring 21 of the final 24 batters she faced and stringing together 11 consecutive outs at one point. She also finished 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI.

Knightlee Mitten also went 3-for-5 for Paris, and Hope Sutherland, Sophia Crusha and Rachel Shoemyer each had RBI. For Van-Far, Madelynn Caldwell went 1-for-2 with two runs, and RBI triple and a walk, and Hailey Lowry had an RBI.

The victory for Paris snapped a three-game losing streak, so head coach Collin Huffman said the Lady Coyotes needed a win after losing a close 3-2 game Sept. 1 at Cairo and an 18-5 rout Tuesday at North Shelby. Huffman said the North Shelby loss was because Paris played a poor half of the game against a senior-heavy team, and the Cairo loss happened despite another good Ashenfelter performance. This time against Van-Far, he said her teammates supported her early.

“The defense went out and actually backed up Kennedy tonight,” Huffman said. “(On Tuesday), I think it was just a long weekend, and we weren’t quite focused going out there. I think the girls just had a little bit of extra confidence in them.”

Huffman said he thinks he has a winning team this year and Wednesday reinforced that as the Lady Coyotes scored four runs in the first inning, which was started by an RBI single by Ahsenfelter. Crusha bunted home another runner, and Hope Sutherland doubled in two runs.

Huffman said his team was aware of what Van-Far’s pitching staff had with Mara Jensen getting the start one night after pitching six innings in a 12-0 shutout against Madison. He said Paris looked for its pitches to drive and were aggressive on the basepaths to take advantage of its speed.

That speed emerged also in the circle from Ashenfelter as she struck out two Lady Indians in the second inning and just amped it up from there. Huffman said she has had to amp it up since last season after graduating four-year varsity pitcher and reigning all-Lewis and Clark conference player Gracie Hatton, who went out with an injury during the season.

“Kennedy had to come in and learn how to be that lady last year, and I know it helped her a bunch,” Huffman said. “She did a great job and part of that is she builds off her defense. Those girls go out there and make those key plays they need to, she throws harder and harder. That velocity picked up at the end because that’s just how she is.”

Van-Far responded to Paris’ early offense with two runs in the first inning when Caldwell hit an RBI double and Jensen added another via groundout. Paris restored its four-run lead in the second inning, and Van-Far cobbled together only two more hits the rest of the game.

Head coach Kelly Borchert said Van-Far still needs to gain that “grit” teams need to win games. This translates into several aspects of the game the Lady Indians have struggled with.

“Right now, as a team, we are lacking grit — the willingness to do whatever it takes to win,” Borchert said. “That is something you just can’t coach. It’s getting dirty, diving in the outfield, doing whatever it takes to get on base — whether it’s drawing a walk, going deep in the count, getting hit with the ball — talking constantly. It’s just the little things that make you an all-around better player besides being fundamentally sound.”

Borchert said Van-Far needed to see a “faster” pitcher such as Ashenfelter to prepare for the rest of its schedule as the team hit slower speed in its victory against Madison. 

When it came to Van-Far’s pitching, Borchert said Jensen just didn’t have the movement she had Tuesday when she struck out seven, which can be explained by a three-game week. Jensen was gone after two innings in favor of Dalana Gay, who clearly seemed fresher when she struck out six batters and allowed five hits and two runs in five innings.

“Dalana didn’t pitch last night, so she came out with a little more fire tonight,” Borchert said.

Gay grunted on about every pitch, showing the intensity and the grit that Borchert is looking from all of her players, she said. 

Huffman said Ashenfelter feels at home in the circle, especially with her younger sister, Emma Ashenfelter, at catcher. He thinks the older Ashenfelter can measure up to the legacy left behind by Hatton, who will play for Moberly Area Community College after setting the school record for single-season and career strikeouts.

“Kennedy is gunning after all those records that Gracie broke,” Huffman said. “It’s no problem. She’ll break them.”

Paris opened its conference schedule Thursday at home against Knox County before it travels to Bevier on Monday. 

Lady Indians defense struggles in 9-3 loss at Louisiana

Van-Far pitcher Dalana Gay might have allowed nine runs, but the game tells a different story.

The Lady Indians committed a season-high nine errors to allow eight unearned runs Thursday in a 9-3 loss at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Louisiana. Gay allowed eight hit six innings while striking out two.

Mara Jensen, Reeve Woodall and McKenna Engh-Hoffman each had an RBI, and Madelynn Caldwell went 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk. 

Engh-Hoffman had an RBI double to open the scoring in the second inning, and Woodall’s RBI single gave Van-Far a 3-2 lead in the third inning following a couple of Lady Indian errors earlier. Errors on four straight plays in the third inning gave Louisiana a 5-3 lead that grew on more miscues later.

Van-Far’s Jensen shuts out, hits out ball in 12-0 win at Madison

Mara Jensen gave herself all the run support she needed Tuesday but appreciated her teammates having her back.

Van-Far recorded its first shutout of the season in a 12-0 win at Madison as Jensen struck out seven in six innings while allowing two hits and a walk. The senior also hit a three-run homer to start the scoring in the first inning.

Jensen had the three RBI on her second home run of the year, Reeve Woodall finished 3-for-3 with all of those hits going as doubles to go with her two RBI, and Dalana Gay went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI.

Carmen Wilburn picked up one of her two hits and was the first of six Lady Indians to reach base at the beginning of the game. Gay doubled to make it 5-0 following Jensen’s blast.

Woodall took two bags on her RBI hit in the third inning and the Lady Indians took two runs on an error committed on Kayla Heaton’s ground ball for an 8-0 lead after three innings.

The Lady Indians added four runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by two of Madison’s six errors.

Van-Far (2-5, 0-2 EMO) goes for its first Eastern Missouri Conference win Tuesday at conference leader Elsberry.