South Shelby’s sixth-inning, two-out rally sets up district softball semifinal showdowns

EWING, Mo. — The third-seeded South Shelby softball team scored seven times with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally for a 12-7 victory over Palmyra in Wednesday’s Class 2 District 5 quarterfinals at Highland High School.

The Cardinals took the lead on Bella Cook’s two-run and punctuated the frame with Madison Wilt’s three-run home run. Kylie Million, who came on in relief in the fifth and allowed one hit over 2 ⅓ innings, retired the Panthers in order in the seventh inning with a strikeout and two groundouts.

Wilt went 2 for 4 with a triple, a home run and five RBIs, while Million went 3 for 4 with a double and Cook went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs.

South Shelby (18-13) will face second-seeded Monroe City in the semifinals at 6:45 p.m. Thursday. The Panthers beat Scotland County 13-3 on Wednesday.

Audri Youngblood went 2 for 3 with a double, a home run, two RBIs and four runs scored for Monroe City (17-10), while allowing one hit over four innings with four strikeouts and one walk. Kylee Kauble went 2 for 4 with four RBIs and Naaron Hays went 1 for 3 with three RBIs.

In the other quarterfinal matchup, fifth-seeded Clark County outslugged fourth-seeded Mark Twain 17-11. The Indians will face top-seeded Highland (22-6) at 5 p.m. Thursday in the first of two semifinals.

Bronwyn Harding went 3 for 3 with two home runs and five RBIs for Mark Twain, while Jade Ross went 4 for 5 with a triple and three runs scored.