Life is full of second chances. So was Saturday’s Class 3 softball state championship game between the Fatima Lady Comets and the Chillicothe Lady Hornets. Fatima pitcher Taylor Baumhoer received a second chance in that game, and she made the most of it.
The Fatima Lady Comets would like to remind everyone no lead is safe until the final out is made. That lesson earned themselves a softball state championship Saturday afternoon. Trailing by nine runs at the end of two innings against the Chillicothe Lady Hornets, the Lady Comets scored 10 unanswered runs, and after losing a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, they had two more runs cross the plate in the eighth inning. Those final two runs were the deciding factor, among many other key moments along the way, that gave Fatima a 16-14 victory against Chillicothe in the Class 3 state title game at Killian Softball Complex.
I’m still trying to process what I witnessed in almost three hours of softball Saturday afternoon at Killian Softball Complex in Springfield. I figure I should start with trying to give a title to the Fatima Lady Comets’ improbable, phenomenal, come-from-behind 16-14 victory in eight innings against the Chillicothe Lady Hornets.
It’s going to be a busy day on the softball field for the Show-Me Conference. Three teams - the Fatima Lady Comets, the Russellville Lady Indians and the Eugene Lady Eagles - will each play for a spot tonight in the state softball Final Four after winning district titles last week.
Mid-Missouri is well-represented in the final regular-season Missouri High School Fastpitch Coaches Association rankings. The Fatima Lady Comets (27-3) will enter the postseason as the top-ranked team in Class 3. They were ranked No. 1 in the previous poll as well.