Softball: Tolton trips Ladybirds 1-0 in District 8 championship

North Callaway pitcher Kenzie Ausfahl delivers to the plate during the sixth inning of Saturday's Class 2 District 8 Tournament championship game against Father Tolton in Mokane.
North Callaway pitcher Kenzie Ausfahl delivers to the plate during the sixth inning of Saturday's Class 2 District 8 Tournament championship game against Father Tolton in Mokane.

MOKANE - North Callaway senior starter Kenzie Ausfahl was tough to crack.

Mastered for the most part, the Father Tolton Lady Trailblazers needed just one hit to do it.

Emily Konrad hit a walk-off home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning for the game's only run, sending top-seeded Tolton to a 1-0 win over Ausfahl and the No. 2 Ladybirds in the Class 2, District 8 championship Saturday afternoon.

Konrad - the Lady Trailblazers' junior third baseman and No. 8 hitter - had two of the Lady Trailblazers' four hits off Ausfahl. Konrad's homer to straightaway center pushed Tolton (17-6) on to the state playoffs and ended North Callaway's season at 14-13.

Ausfahl (9-6) struck out nine and walked two.

The Ladybirds' hardships at the plate were even more pronounced Saturday. North Callaway managed just one hit - sophomore designated player Haley Garrett's single in the third - and had only five baserunners.

"(Tolton) got the big hit and we couldn't," Ladybirds head coach Mariah McKee said.

The Lady Trailblazers advance to a Class 2 sectional Wednesday and will face the winner of Saturday's District 7 championship between Marceline and Putnam County.

North Callaway reached the District 8 title game by edging No. 6 seed Hallsville 2-1 in semifinal play late Thursday night. The Ladybirds broke a 1-all tie when senior center fielder Lani Wilson scored the winning run on a double play in the fifth.

Wilson's two-out single in the first scored Ausfahl for North Callaway's other run.

Wilson went 3-for-4 as the Ladybirds finished with six hits. Ausfahl was 1-for-1 and walked three times.

Ausfahl tossed a two-hitter and struck out 13 for the complete-game victory. Hallsville's lone run in the first was unearned.