Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Jody Vancil (back) slides in safely at home plate ahead of the tag from Holcomb catcher Megan Crawford during Thursday's high school softball game at Holcomb. [Click to enlarge]

HOLCOMB, Mo. -- Saying that Laurel Scales has been on a roll of late might just be an understatement.

Scales turned in her third straight dominating pitching performance of the week, striking out 12 batters and allowing just one hit to lead the Kennett Lady Indians to a 12-0 victory over the Holcomb Lady Hornets here Thursday.

"She's good. She's definitely the best we've seen all year hands down," Holcomb coach Seth McBroom said. "I was very impressed in her ability to throw strikes as well as with the speed."

In three games this week, Scales has struck out 36 batters in 15 innings of work, allowing three hits and one walk -- and zero runs.

"She's done a great job," Kennett coach Laurie Vaughan said. "She's really worked hard and put in a lot of time. It's showing -- her hard work's paying off. She's really able to get her focus and keep it. You can see it when she's on the mound."

Kennett (11-0) also dominated at the plate Thursday, pounding out 14 hits -- six going for extra bases -- and stealing 11 bases to take a 7-0 after two innings and never look back.

"They came out ready to play," McBroom said. "They were hitting the ball and spraying it around. They were just a good team. What else can you say? Just a good team and really well coached."

Said Vaughan: "We're really starting to fine-tune some things I hope. We really need it going into our conference tournament next week. But these girls, you can just tell that they love the game of softball. It's a lot of fun to be around them and to feed off of their excitement. It's a great group to coach."

The Lady Tribe also got a huge game from Ashley Downs -- the team's lone senior -- who was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a pair of stolen bases.

"She's got a good stick on her and she's got good wheels," Vaughan said. "It's nice to have her come in off the bench and excel. That shows a lot about her character and her ability."

Taylor Wake, Kalee Gore, Ciara Dewrock and Jordan Wagster each had two-hit games, while Wagster stole three bases and Wake stole a pair. Dewrock had three RBIs while Wagster drove in a pair.

Kennett is slated to take on the Twin Rivers Lady Royals this afternoon at Broseley in a much-anticipated matchup of two the area's best pitchers in Scales and Lady Royals hurler Carlee Vancil.

"We're looking forward to that game and I know a lot of the girls are too," said Vaughan. "They played with some of them this summer. People have talked that they are a good team. We want to be able to face those good teams and do well against them."

NMCC 9, Senath-H'ville 0
At Senath, Lady Eagles pitcher Kelly Robey no-hit another Dunklin County team, but this time picked up the win as NMCC downed the host Lady Lions.

Robey struck out 14 and walked just two in seven innings of work. She also had a pair of hits.

Baseball
Kennett 9, Chaffee 6
At Chaffee, the Indians scored three times in the top of the eighth inning to snap a three-game losing streak.

Gage Blue had the big hit, stroking a go-ahead two-run single in the top of the eighth.

Kennett (10-8) led 5-0 after three innings before Chaffee rallied to tie the game at 6-6 and force extra innings.

Trey Bazzell had three hits, while Blue and winning pitcher Shane Branum had a pair of hits. Branum also had a pair of doubles.

Senath-H'ville 1, Campbell 0
At Campbell, Heath Horvath's solo home run with two out in the top of the first inning proved the game's only scoring as the visiting Lions got a four-hit shutout from Dustin Hunter.

Hunter struck out 12 batters and walked just one to lift Senath-Hornersville (10-9) past the Class 2, District 1 favorite Camels (11-5) on a day when both teams had just four hits each.

Cote Harralston had two hits for Campbell.

Cooter 10, Caruthersville 0
At Cooter, the host Wildcats (16-2) got a strong pitching performance from Aaron McCaig to take a big win over Caruthersville.

McCaig allowed four hits, struck out six and walked two to earn the complete-game victory.

Aaron Brown and Evan House each had a pair of hits, including a three-run homer by Brown in the bottom of the sixth inning that ended the game via the 10-run rule.

Girls Soccer
Cape Central 5, Kennett 0
At Cape Girardeau, Sarah Uptmor scored three goals for the host Lady Tigers (7-9) while Laura Lusk and Danielle Markhart each added one.

Meg Goodman picked up the shutout in goal

The SEMO News Service provided information for this story.