Kennedy's no-no leads Senath-Hornersville to Bootheel Conference semifinals

The Senath-Hornersville Lions took the field on Tuesday looking to clinch a spot in the Bootheel Conference semifinals with a win over the Hayti Indians. Not only did the Lions beat Hayti 11-0, they didn't allow a single Hayti batter to hit the ball into the outfield throughout the entire ballgame. The victory can be attributed to two single aspects, solid hitting and the outstanding pitching of Hannah Kennedy.

Kennedy has been known as one of the best pitchers in the Bootheel Conference, and she proved it yesterday as she tossed a no-hitter against Hayti. Kennedy recorded 10 strikeouts in the ballgame and didn't allow the a single ball to leave the infield. The only way Hayti could get anyone on base was to get hit by a pitch that would get away from Kennedy.

Kennedy was in full control of her pitches as she only walked one Hayti batter in the ballgame. That type of pitching performance is exactly what Senath-Hornersville needed to start the conference tournament on a good note.

"It was great for (Hannah) to come out and throw as well as she did after not being able to practice in a few days. Her performance really gives us a lot of momentum for the rest of the tournament," says Lions coach Shane Jordan about Kennedy's no-hitter.

Although the Lions' offense took a couple of innings to produce some runs to support Kennedy's pitching, they were able to give her more than enough support to get the victory.

The Lions started scoring early when Megan B. Smith hit a two-run, inside-the-park home run to give the Lions the early lead after one inning. The Lions were able to get one more run in the second, scored by Allyson Lomax as she stole home on a wild pitch.

The Lions wouldn't score again until the fourth inning. It was in the fourth that they took total control of the game, scoring eight runs on seven hits. Several Lions contributed to the scoring effort in the fourth, including RBI hits from Kennedy, Lomax, Megan Smith, Nicole Rushing, Makenzie Crawford, McKenzie Harris and Shelby Sullivan.

Overall, the Lions scored 11 runs on 11 hits and only stranded two runners in the ball game.

Jordan commented his team's effort to come out and start their tournament run on a positive note.

"It felt good to come out and play well in the first round. Although we started out slow, we were able to put up a great fourth inning that helped us advance to the next round," he said.

Senath-Hornersville will take on the Malden Greenwave today in the semifinals, a match-up that Jordan and his squad will not overlook.

"I know that the girls would like to play Kennett in the finals, but we got Malden on Wednesday which is a very important game, but our goal is to win the entire tournament," Jordan said.

The Lions and the Greenwave will play in the first semifinal at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, with Kennett taking on Portageville in the second semifinal at 4:30 p.m.