For the first time since 2002 the Salisbury Lady Panthers are state champions in softball following a 4-1 win over the Canton Lady Tigers in the Class 1 State Championship game in Springfield. Abby Hultz held the formidable Salisbury offense in check over the first three innings. However, a pair of errors set-up Salisbury’s Caden Stapleton to be the difference maker in the bottom of the fourth inning.



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Colin Schowe with the call on KTCM 97.3 and centralmoinfo.com. Stapleton’s home run was her fourth of the year. Salisbury coach Nate King said the matchup for Stapleton against Hultz was a favorable one.



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Prior to the fourth inning Hultz had struck out the first nine batters she faced. That included a nine pitch, three strikeout inning in the first. King said it just took time for his team to adjust to Stapleton.



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Hultz finished with twelve strikeouts over six innings in a losing effort for Canton. On the flip side Salisbury’s Bryn Wooldridge struck out nine Canton hitters over the full seven innings, while scattering five hits and hitting one batter. King said Wooldridge was on the top of her game in the championship.



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Canton outhit Salisbury 5-4 for the game, but could only scratch out one run on an RBI single by Abby Jarvis in the sixth. The Lady Panthers answered with an RBI triple by Lizzy Bales in the bottom of the inning to give the game the final score of 4-1. Canton coach Jonathan Bastian said they just couldn’t get over the hump against Wooldridge.



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The Canton Lady Tigers finish the season at 23-2. Their only other loss was a 2-1 defeat to the Class 2 runnner-up, Palmyra. Bastian said despite the championship defeat he is extremely proud of his team.



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With the win in the Class 1 Championship Salisbury finishes the season 22-5. The state championship is the third in Salisbury softball’s history. You can hear the full interviews with both coaches on centralmoinfo.com.

Salisbury coach Nate King


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Canton coach Jonathan Bastian


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