BEGGS - The Henryetta Lady Knight fast-pitch softball team earned a split decision in their two contests last Saturday at the annual Beggs Fastpitch Softball Festival.

The Lady Knights were originally scheduled to compete in a total of four games at the 2-day event, which got underway last Friday, but their meetings with Kansas and Red Oak were cancelled due to heavy rainfall in the Beggs area.

On Saturday, the Henryetta diamond squad returned to Beggs to battle Spiro and Tishomingo.

In Saturday's first festival game, the Lady Knights suffered their first loss of the 2018 campaign, dropping a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to the Tishomingo Lady Indians.

The Henryetta ladies returned to the win column against Spiro, edging past the Lady Bulldogs by a 5-4 margin to earn the split decision at the Beggs Festival.

The Lady Knights were scheduled to begin the home portion of their 2018 regular-season schedule on Monday, hosting the Eufaula Lady Ironheads in a 3A-6 district showdown. Monday's home opener was postponed to a later date due to heavy rainfall.

The Henryetta squad is scheduled to travel to Eufaula on Thursday, then will compete at the annual Kellyville Softball Festival in Sapulpa this Friday and Saturday.

The Lady Knights will play their four festival games at 3 and 4:15 p.m., respectively, on both days. Friday's scheduled games will be against Adair at 3 p.m. and Poteau at 4:15 p.m., while Saturday's schedule will see the HHS squad take on Heavener at 3 p.m. and Verdigris at 4:15 p.m.

All four festival games will be played on Field 4 at the Sapulpa Girls Softball Complex (1733 S. Wickham Road).

In last Saturday's showdown with Tishomingo, the Lady Indians started the scoring with a run the bottom of the first. After a scoreless second kept the Tishomingo lead at 1-0, the Henryetta ladies took over the lead at 3-1 with three runs in the top of the third.

In the 3-run third, Jalynn Joslin led off by reaching on an error. Brittani Hembree followed with a single to put runners at first and second with no outs. Katelyn Dwiggins attempted to advance the runners with a sacrifice bunt attempt. Dwiggins moved the runners, but also reached base on a throwing error by the third baseman. The defensive miscue allowed Joslin and Hembree to score and Dwiggins to advance all the way to third. Dwiggins came across to score the third HHS run in the frame on an RBI sacrifice fly by Avery Miller.

Tishomingo knotted the score at 3-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third.

The game remained deadlocked at 3-3 until the sixth inning. The 1-hour, 10-minute time limit expired before the start of the sixth inning, sending the game into international tiebreaker rules, where each team began their half of the sixth with a runner at second.

The Lady Knights were unable to drive in their lead runner in the top of the sixth to keep it a 3-3 score, heading into the bottom of the frame.

In the bottom of the sixth, Tishomingo advanced its lead runner with a sacrifice bunt, then drove in the game-winning run with a one-out single to center field and hand the Henryetta ladies the heartbreaking 4-3 defeat.

Avery Miller went the distance in the circle for the Lady Knights and was saddled with the pitching loss. The freshman right-hander gave up four runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and two walks in five and one-third innings of work.

The Henryetta offense was limited to just two hits in the loss - both singles. The two base hits for the Lady Knights came from Miller and Brittani Hembree.

Five HHS hitters reached base on defensive miscues by Tishomingo fielders in the 1-run loss came. Those Henryetta hitters reaching base via defensive errors were Dwiggins, Joslin, Kasedi Gobin, Kaylie Hamric, and Hulleah Wincle. Dwiggins and Wincle, along with Jenifer Denton, also reached base via walks.

In the narrow win over Spiro, the Lady Knights took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the first.

Spiro went in front 4-1 with four runs in the top of the third, while Henryetta regained its narrow lead, 5-4, by answering with four runs of its own in the home half of the third.

Neither team was able to produce any runs in the fourth inning, giving the Lady Knights the 5-4 victory after the time limit had expired at the end of the frame.

Kasedi Gobin worked all four innings in the circle for Ryan Swallow's HHS squad to earn her second pitching win of the 2018 season. Gobin gave up four runs on three hits, striking out three and walking four in her complete-game performance.

The top hitter for Henryetta against Spiro was Katelyn Dwiggins. The freshman catcher went 2 for 3 with a pair of singles and 2 RBIs.

The other three base hits for the Lady Knights in the 1-run victory came on singles by Jalynn Joslin, Avery Miller, and Lexi Lollis.

Joslin, Miller, Hulleah Wincle, and Jenifer Denton found their way on base via a free pass, while Miller also reached base after being hit by a pitch. The only other two baserunners for HHS against Spiro were Gobin and Kaylie Hamric, who reached on defensive miscues by the Lady Bulldog fielders.