PARSONS — The Allen Red Devils split with the Labette Community College Cardinals in a lateral move as they look to continue their climb up the Jayhawk Conference standings.
The Red Devils fell in the opener 5-3, for their first conference loss of the season, but responded with a 15-9 victory in the finale.
Allen nearly kept their unblemished conference record intact but came up short in the final innings to open the day. Freshman Andrea Ruby took the loss with a strikeout over six innings, allowing three walks and four runs on nine hits.
After going scoreless in the first and second innings, freshman shortstop Taylor Damme put Allen on the scoreboard with an RBI grounder and later gave Allen an early lead after stealing home on a wild pitch. In the fifth inning, freshman second baseman Addie Keys briefly gave the Red Devils the lead with a ground-out RBI, but four unanswered Labette runs allowed the Cardinals to take the contest.
After tying Keys for the team lead in RBIs in the opener with one each, Damme exploded in the finale with seven RBIs in the 15-9 slugfest.
Trailing by three runs in the third inning, Damme drove in her first runner.
Sophomore first baseman Kalyse Abernathy drove in a runner with an RBI single, then tied the game after Damme once again reached home on an errant throw.
Allen added four runs in the fourth inning off a Keys RBI double, then a two-run Damme homer. An outfield error and an RBI single by Walker added two more runs in the fifth, and the Red Devils continued pouring on the runs until leading 15-5 before Labette’s final at-bat.
After six and 2/3 innings of solid play, including three strikeouts, Keys got into some trouble with two outs.
Coach Nicole Peters then opted for change-of-pace closer sophomore Kirstyn Busby, who forced a flyout to secure the win.
Along with her team-leading seven RBIs, Damme also had a team-leading four hits while perfect in 4 of 4 at-bats. Walker and sophomore outfielder Ella McCammon both had three hits while successful in 3 of 5 at-bats.
Following Thursday’s doubleheader, the Red Devils are 10-19 overall and 3-1 in the Jayhawk Conference — tied with Neosho Community College for third place.
They will have the opportunity to climb a bit higher when they face second-place Kansas City Kansas Community College on the road Thursday.
First pitch is 1 p.m. for the opener and 3 p.m. for the finale.
