Goddard reaches state for fourth time in five years

For the fourth time in the past five seasons, the Goddard Lions are headed to the state tournament, defeating Salina South 2-1 in Tuesday's regional softball final.

It was a game that started as a pitcher's duel, with both pitcher's exchanging inning ending strikeouts as the first three innings ended scoreless.

Then in the fourth, Salina South finally put a runner on base and nearly brought her home, but Mataya Copes was called out at home trying to advance from second on South's first hit of the game.

In the bottom half of the inning, Kendal LeGrand helped her own cause with an RBI single up the middle to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. The following inning, Sydni Williams doubled the score for Goddard, hitting an RBI single of her own to get the lead to 2-0.

South would get that run back in the sixth on a Jenna Henderson single to cut it to 2-1, but down to their final out in the seventh Mariah Janda was picked off at second to end it and send the Lions back to State.

The two wins Tuesday move Goddard to 15-3 on the year ahead of the state tournament, while Salina South ends their season with a 16-6 mark.