The 2025 Peebles Lady Indians softball squad will be playing in the Division VI district semifinals, battling Lynchburg on May 21 at Unioto High School. From left, Emily Burns, Tiffany Burns, Kaelyn Musser, Aiva Brumley, Ashlyn Abbott, Abigail Smalley, Kendall Myers, Kendall Young, Reese Davis, Amryn Carroll, Aleah Purcell, Hyalee Shields and Kiera Scott. The Lady Indians are coached by Amanda Myers. (Photo provided by Kendra Davis)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After a four-win regular season (with one makeup to go), first-year head coach Amanda Myers and her Peebles lady Indians softball squad were slotted as the #11 seed in the Southeast District Division V! brackets and faced a road trip on Monday, May 12 for their tourney opener, a quarterfinal match up at #6 seeded Eastern Pike, a Lady Eagles team that had racked up 11 regular season wins at the time the bracket was drawn.
Tournaments, though, are made for underdogs and the Lady Indians proved to be a more than worthy foe. Trailing 2-1 going into the top of the seventh, they scored one to tie and then put up four runs in the top of the eighth to defeat the Lady Eagles 6-3 and advance to the Division VI district semifinals.
In that decisive top of the eighth inning, the Lady Indians proved that the bunt can still be an offensive weapon. Reese Davis led off with a perfectly placed bunt and went to second when the Eastern pitcher made a wild throw to first. Aleah Purcell followed with another bunt single to put runners at first and third and Kiera Scott was hit by a pitch while attempting to bunt to load the bases. Ashlynn Abbott laid down yet another bunt and Davis was forced at home but the ensuing throw to first was another wild one, allowing Purcell to score the first run of the frame.
Kendall Myers drew a walk to again fill the bases and a base hit by Abigail Smalley brought in two more runs to make it 5-2. Myers raced home later on a wild pitch to give the excited Lady Indians a four-run advantage. In the bottom of the eighth, Eastern managed one run off Peebles pitcher Kaelyn Musser which wasn’t enough as the Lady Indians’ southpaw closed the door on a district quarterfinal victory.
Musser went all eight innings in the center circle, allowing eight hits and just two earned runs while striking out nine Lady Eagles. At the plate, the Peebles offense was paced by Abigail Smalley, who went 2 for 3 and drove home three runs.
With the win, the Lady Indians advanced to the Division VI district semifinals on May 21 at Unioto High School, where they will face a fellow member of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, the #3 seeded Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs.The winner of that contest will be back at Unioto on Friday, May 23 to play for the district championship.
Peebles
100 000 14 —6
Eastern Pike
001 010 01 —3
Peebles Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Abbott 2-1-0-1, Carroll 3-1-0-0, Davis 4-01-10, Musser 4-0-1-0, Myers 2-2-1-0, Purcell 4-1-1-0, Scott 3-1-1-0, Smalley 3-0-2-3, Young 3-0-0-0, Team 28-6-7-4.
Eastern Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Bevins 3-1-0-0, Casada 0-0-0-0, Day 3-0-0-0, Park 4-0-1-0, Poorman 4-0-1-1, Quillen 3-0-0-0, Wells 4-0-1-0, Rader 4-0-1-0, McCallister 4-2-3-0, McCleese 5-0-2-1, Team 34-3-8-2.
Peebles Pitching
Musser (W)- 8 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 9 K
Eastern Pitching
Rader (L)- 8 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 0 ER, 8 BB, 14 K
