Rachel Rook needed 10 strikeouts during the Lady Tigers' district semifinal game to reach 1,000 for her career. She got twice that many in Republic's 5-3 win over Neosho, leading the Lady Tigers into the district championship game Friday against McDonald County.
Rook's 20 strikeouts were a new career high and a new school record (breaking her old mark of 19, which she had accomplished twice). They also moved Rook into 7th place all-time on the Missouri career strikeouts list, with 1,010, surpassing Cola Krueger of Blue Springs South, who had 993. But most importantly they helped advance the Lady Tigers to within one game of a district championship.
Rook says she was trying not to think about the possibility of hitting the 1,000-strikeout milestone when the game started, even though her friends had been bringing it up all day.
"It was unneeded pressure in an already-stressful situation," she says. "It means a lot. I've put in a lot of work and this is a reflection of it. Outside of the whole breaking records thing, I'm just playing a game."
Republic broke on top in the 1st inning, when Taylor Hulland delivered a big 2-out RBI double to score Kami Holt. Neosho pitcher Cloe Reece looked like she was about to pitch around Holt's leadoff single before Hulland came through with two outs and two strikes.
In the top of the 4th, Republic scored again with the help of three Neosho errors. Hulland circled the bases on a ground ball when the 3rd baseman threw the ball over the 1st baseman's head and it rolled all the way into the right field corner. Julia Higgins followed it up with a home run to dead center field to make it 3-1. After Karleigh Summers lined out to the wall in center, Megan Thorne walked, Alyssa Roth and Rachel Rook singled, and Holt reached on another Neosho error. By the time the inning ended, it was 5-0 Republic.
Neosho didn't quit. They scored two runs in the 6th when Rook walked two and hit two batters, with an infield single sandwiched in-between. The Lady Wildcats used a walk and an error to bring the tying run to the plate in the 7th inning before Rook struck out Kaylee Johnson the game.
Rook says her control breakdowns were "all mental. That's my fault and I shouldn't do that. The first two innings, I came out and it was great, then the middle of the game went downhill," she says.
Coach Lee Dishman says even when Rook got into trouble, he remained confident.
"What's going through my head is 'I've got Rachel Rook out there. We're going to be all right,'" he says. "She's the best in the circle…in the whole entire state. If I had to give the ball person, I'd give her the ball and let's go."
The Lady Tigers' win sets up a rematch with McDonald County, a team Republic beat two weeks ago, 7-2. It also gives Republic an opportunity for redemption on the same field in Joplin where they were upset in the district championship game to end last season.
"After last year, I want to win. That's been our goal all year," Rook says. "I want to be a lot better than I did tonight. Twenty strikeouts doesn't really matter because those (Neosho) runs were on me. I just want to keep getting better."
The district championship game will start at 4:30 Friday. The game will be broadcast live at RepublicTigerSports.com/live and in the Republic Tiger Sports mobile app.