DeMoss double completes Ruston walk-off rally 10-9 over Ouachita

Murphy DeMoss’ walk-off double to left lifted the Ruston softball team 10-9 over Ouachita on Thursday, cementing the Lady Bearcats firmly in the District 2-5A title race.

When the game started, the idea of a walk-off seemed unrealistic after Ruston (13-7, 3-1) came out of the gates hot with a 6-0 lead over Ouachita after batting through the order.

But between Ruston having trouble throwing strikes and timely hits from the Lions’ bats, Ouachita clawed back in the game and eventually took separate 8-7 and 9-8 leads – potentially stealing a win after what started as the makings of a quick blowout.

Ruston, needing two runs to win it going into the bottom of the seventh, needed its best at-bats of the night.

Despite getting down in an 0-2 count, Jojo Fernandes won the atbat with a hard opposite field single to right to start the Ruston rally. Abby Holton drew a four-pitch walk after her, guaranteeing the top of the order would step up to the plate.

After a strikeout from Gracelynn Underwood, leadoff hitter Cala Wilson drew a four-pitch walk as well, sending DeMoss, a fellow senior, to the plate.

Ouachita knew the wheels were coming off and Ruston was ready to strike, forcing the Lions’ coaching staff to call time and visit with their pitcher before DeMoss’ at-bat.

But DeMoss had a meeting of her own and let RHS head coach Lauren Garvie know she was ready.

“When they called that timeout right before I went into the box, coach Garvie asked me, ‘what’s your plan?’ And earlier, my plan was to hit, hit, hit without really thinking about it,” DeMoss said. “But I had taken into consideration where she was pitching and I decided to scoot away from the line and drill that inside, low pitch like I know I can.”

On a 1-1 count, with tension filling the home stands into a mix of silent anticipation and anxiety, DeMoss got all barrel on an inside pitch and turned on it to send a double flying past the infield and into the left field grass, scoring Jayla Spears and Holton.

Ballgame Bearcats. It was the first extra-base hit for DeMoss since March 7.

Garvie said her at-bat, along with the bottom of the order that came before her to give the top of the order a chance to win it, shows all you need to know about how the Lady Bearcats are in position to contend for a district title.

“I think a lot of the girls that ended up producing those runs in the seventh inning showed some grit to themselves because they hadn’t produced in the game prior,” Garvie said. “If you look at the previous innings, they weren’t producing. But they went up there and believed they were going to get on base. You could see the nervousness in Jojo, but she hits that rope and she finally says, ‘Holy cow. I can do this. I’m good.’ Same thing with Murphy. She hadn’t produced earlier in the game. I’m sure she felt some pressure and she went up there and she had a plan, and she did well.”

DeMoss finished the game 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs, while Morgan Foster went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Shelby Freeman brought in two runs on her single in the first inning, while Fernandes and Wilson each had two hits. Holton went 1-for-2 with an RBI and 2 key walks.

Before the need for late-inning magic, Ruston’s six spot in the first came courtesy of RBIs from Foster, Freeman, Holton, and Underwood – with the Lady Bearcats collecting five hits.

Ouachita answered with two runs in the second inning and three more in the top of the fourth to suddenly make it a close ballgame, taking advantage of multiple walks at the plate.

Ruston gave itself some more cushion after Foster’s second steal of home of the game in the bottom of the fourth for a 7-5 lead but Ouachita grabbed the momentum back after taking an 8-7 lead in the fifth with the first three batters reaching safely, leading to back-to-back three-run innings.

Underwood, a freshman, tied the game for Ruston at 8-8 after a close steal of home to add to the tension.

But Ouachita kept up its push, plating another run in the top of the sixth after an infield error by Ruston on a double play attempt, moving the Lions ahead 9-8 with Ruston down to its final six outs.

The Lady Bearcats went quietly in the sixth, but so did Ouachita, as Sage Tolar made up for allowing four runs in her previous two innings of work by sitting down the Lions on six pitches to keep the deficit at one run, setting up the seventh inning rally.

Now, with Ruston alone in second place in the District 2-5A standings behind West Ouachita (12-8, 4-0 district), Garvie said her team will continue to fight like Thursday night showed.

“I think every single person in our district is beatable this year,” Garvie said. “Normally, there are some teams in our district that are always solid, but I think we have a beat on most of them. I take ownership on the West Ouachita game.

“I messed up as a coach and didn’t change my pitching soon enough, and I apologized to the girls for that. I think they took that and owned that and said that’s OK, we’ll come out here and play again. I didn’t know it had been since 2018 since we won two district games in a year,” Garvie continued. “So, I definitely don’t know what it’s like with three. But I think that’s awesome for the girls to feel that confidence.”

Ruston will continue district play at West Monroe on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.