Purcell bows out

Purcell’s 2022 slow-pitch was short and sweet.

“We knew that it was going to be a short one but we learned, we grew and I think we had a lot of fun,” head coach Sarah Jones said.

The Dragons went 3-7.

“In 10 games the girls were able to have a combined 250 plate appearances and 172 chances on defense and as a team we ended with a .800 fielding percentage,” Jones said.

“I am extremely proud of Kelly Anderson. Last year she pitched 26 innings and had 30 walks. Over the winter and the start of the season, she was constantly practicing and finding new ways to throw hitters off,” the coach reported.

Anderson pitched 36.2 innings and only had nine walks on the season.

“With few games, it took us a while to get comfortable at the plate but towards the end of the season,” Jones said. “With a big win over 4A ranked Vanoss, we went into Districts knowing that we could compete.”

Purcell beat Western Heights and took the #2 team in 5A Perkins-Tryon to seven innings in the first game and six innings in the second game.

“Perkins is a good ball team and our girls fought. We knew that it was going to be a tough district and at the end of the day our goal was to have fun and compete, and they did that. We had a great team dinner at Texas Roadhouse on the way home. It was a fun way to end the short season we had,” the coach said.

Jones expressed her appreciation to assistant coach Scott Ward and to the junior high coaches, Kenzie Cunnius and Kayla Sweeney “for a great slow-pitch season.”