The Henryetta Lady Knight varsity fastpitch softball team got some late-inning heroics in their District 3A-6 finale Tuesday evening at home against the Eufaula Lady Ironheads.

Tied 9-9 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Lady Knights got a leadoff single by senior Brittani Hembree. Hembree was joined on the bases by leadoff hitter Jalynn Joslin, who doubled to put runners at second and third with no outs in the frame.

Smallwood, who entered as a pinch runner in the first and stayed in as a defensive replacement in the second, roped the first pitch she saw past the first baseman for an RBI single, scoring Hembree with the game-winning run, giving the Lady Knights the 10-9 victory.

Prior to Tuesday's thrilling win over Eufaula, the Henryetta squad clinched the second seed in the district standings with a 2-1 victory over the Beggs Lady Demons Monday evening in Beggs.

With the wins over Beggs and Eufaula, the Lady Knights finish their district schedule with a 7-3 record. The second-place finish in the district standings means a home game next week in the Class 3A regional tournament against the third-place team in 3A-7, which is the Kansas Lady Comets.

The Henryetta squad was scheduled to conclude their regular-season schedule on Thursday with a trip to Warner and a showdown with the Warner Lady Eagles.

In Monday's county showdown with the Lady Demons, the two county squads did all of their scoring in the first inning. Henryetta got its two runs in the top of the first with RBI singles by Avery Miller and Kasedi Gobin.

Beggs cut the Henryetta lead in half, 2-1, with a run in the bottom of the first.

The remainder of the county showdown became a pitching duel between Henryetta freshman Avery Miller and Beggs sophomore Kaci Phelps.

Both right-handers did not allow a single run to cross home plate in the final six innings with Miller keeping the Lady Demons off the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh to procure the Lady Knights' 2-1 victory.

Miller earned the pitching win for Henryetta, allowing one run on three hits, striking out four and walking one in seven innings of work.

The Lady Knights scattered 10 hits in the contest, led by the trio of Jalynn Joslin (2 for 4, 2 singles), Lexi Lollis (2 for 3, 2 singles), and Kaylie Hamric (2 for 3, 2 singles) with two hits apiece.

The other four base hits for Henryetta in the narrow win were the RBI singles by Miller and Gobin and singles by Bailee Worlow and Katelyn Dwiggins.

The only other baserunner for the Lady Knights was Hulleah Wincle, who drew a 2-out walk in the first.

In Tuesday's home meeting with Eufaula, the visitors opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first.

The Lady Knights went in front 2-1 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame, then extended their lead to 6-1 with a 4-run home half of the second.

Both teams tallied two runs in their half of the third to make it an 8-3 contest in favor of Henryetta after three innings of action.

Eufaula plated a run in the fourth, then added a run in the fifth to cut the Henryetta lead to three, 8-5.

The Lady Knights made it a 9-5 contest with a run in the last of the fifth.

After a scoreless sixth, Eufaula tallied four runs in the top of the seventh to deadlock the score at 9-9, heading into the bottom of the seventh, where back-to-back hits by Hembree and Joslin set the stage for Smallwood's game-winning single down the first-base line, giving the Henryetta squad the thrilling 10-9 victory.

Kasedi Gobin earned the pitching win for Henryetta, allowing nine runs (eight earned) on 11 hits with six strikeouts and five walks in seven innings of work.

The Lady Knights finished the game with 11 hits, led by Joslin, who was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate with two singles, two doubles, and an RBI.

Gobin (2 for 4, single, triple, 3 RBIs) and Hembree (2 for 4, 2 singles) also recorded multi-hit games for Henryetta with two hits each.

Besides Smallwood's game-winning single, the other base hits for the Lady Knights against Eufaula came on a single by Bailee Worlow and a 2-run double by Avery Miller.

Other baserunners for Henryetta in the district finale were Smallwood (walk), Miller (walk, hit by pitch), Hulleah Wincle (walk, hit by pitch), Katelyn Dwiggins (walk, error), and Kaylie Hamric (walk, hit by pitch).

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