The skies may have been gloomy above Holt High School on Thursday, September 29th, but the Lady Indians softball team shined in their final conference matchup of the season against Washington. Holt defeated conference opponent Fort Zumwalt North on September 27th in convincing fashion, 18-2, to move their conference record to 9-0 before taking on Washington two days later.

It did not come easy for the Lady Indians, as they had to contend with a tough Blue Jays squad, who sat at 14-6 and ranked number 10 in the metro area among large schools as they traveled to Wentzville to take on the 22-2 Lady Indians, who ranked number 1. How did this top 10 matchup play out? Let’s just say there was a little late inning magic for the Lady Indians…

The teams were held scoreless through the first three innings before Washington junior first baseman Taylor Hendrix smacked a two-run home run to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead. This was just the second hit of the ballgame to this point for Washington.

Washington freshman hurler Ellie Quaethem shut out the Lady Indians for 5 1/3 innings before Holt senior shortstop Lexi Jones hit a solo home run to get Holt on the board and cut the Washington lead in half, 2-1.

In the bottom of the 7th, with the Lady Indians still trailing 2-1 and down to their final outs, sophomore left fielder Trinity Busby drove in junior right fielder Rachel Smith with one out to tie the score at 2 and send the game to extra innings.

The score remained knotted at 2 until the top of the 10th when the Blue Jays tacked on a two-out run to take a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom half of the inning.

How did the Lady Indians respond? Take a wild guess…

Staying true to their feisty, never-give-up mentality, the Lady Indians tied it up with a sacrifice fly from junior third baseman Madison Kettler. Now with two outs, Lexi Jones drew a walk to put runners on first and second for freshman catcher and clean-up hitter Marissa Peek. Then Peek did this…https://youtu.be/PhFoYzgJ1mA (video courtesy mrjunebug2727 on YouTube).

Peek’s home run was her sixth of the year. Jones’s solo shot in the sixth was her ninth round tripper, extending her team single season home run record.

“There’s probably not a 3-4 combination in the entire metro area as deadly as those two,” Holt Head Coach Joel Adam said. “I’ve known Marissa since she was a fifth-grader, and I knew what she was going to bring to the table, but she’s been awfully tough to handle. I know most of the coaches in the area are like, ‘wow, we’ve got to face her the next three years?!’ I would think, at the rate she’s going, Lexi better hit a few more homers because Marissa’s going to be a handful.”

To go along with the two clutch homers Jones and Peek hit against Washington, Holt senior Cece Peine pitched a stellar game, giving up just one earned run on five hits in 8 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking just one (the lead off batter of the game). “My curveball was really working well,” Peine said. “I just focused on keeping the pitches away from the hitters but still in the strike zone.”

This performance is not just a blip on the radar; the entire pitching staff has pitched well all year, turning in solid outing after solid outing. “Sydney [Hansen] and I, and really the rest of the pitchers, have worked together,” Peine said. “I was injured at the beginning of the season, so that was a setback for me, but the team pulled it together and stuck with it.”

The Lady Indians wrap up their regular season schedule on Monday, October 3rd, against Francis Howell Central. Districts begin on Wednesday, October 5th.