For 4th straight year, Platte County finishes as Class 4 District 8 runnerup

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — The result felt all too familiar and remained equally frustrating.

For the fourth straight season, Kearney defeated Platte County in the Class 4 District 8 championship, this time in a dominant 9-0 shutout Tuesday evening at William Chrisman High School. The Bulldogs advance back to the playoffs. The Pirates’ saw another promising season cut short, finishing with a 19-11 record.

Kearney (29-5) hit three home runs total, and Bulldogs senior pitcher Kate Landewee struck out an impressive 17 in a one-hit shutout.

“I think it’s kind of a little bit of a mental block,” Platte County coach Callie Peoples said. “We’ve been in this situation time after time. The girls came in with a good attitude; they came in with a good mindset, and it just didn’t go our way.”

Platte County trailed 5-0 before junior shortstop Bryli Seifert collected the first and only hit against Landewee to lead off the top of the fourth. The single to left field skipped past Kearney junior Ellie Switzer, resulting in a two-base error that put Seifert at third base with no outs.

Landewee struck out the next three to keep the lead intact.

Platte County only went down in order twice — the second and seventh. The Pirates drew three walks, and Landewee hit sophomore third baseman Kinleigh Howren with a pitch in the third. Only Seifert, who also walked with two outs in the top of the first, advanced past first.

“Coming in, we knew that they can hit, and that we would have to be tough,” Peoples said. “I would’ve liked to have seen us score a couple of runs and battle back and then that’s a different ballgame.”

Platte County senior Danica Salisbury drew the start after an impressive run of three starts that included wins over North Platte and then Smithville in the Class 4 District 8 semifinals after a hard luck extra-inning loss to Grain Valley. She hoped to reverse the result of the Pirates’ 6-1 loss to Kearney in a regular season matchup that gave the Bulldogs’ the No. 1 seed.

Salisbury lasted 4 2/3 innings but walked six and allowed six hits, while striking out one.

“(Danica’s) a great pitcher; they’re great hitters. One through nine in the lineup, they’re tough outs every single time,” Peoples said. “Really it was her vs. them every single time. She did a great job hitting her spots, didn’t get some of the calls we would’ve like to have, but her leadership has been great this postseason and especially these last three weeks.”

Kearney took advantage of the field’s dimensions and wind blowing out with senior Alyssa Quick poking a two-out, two-run home run to center field in the bottom of the first to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. Katelyn Stumpenhaus, a sophomore first baseman, added a solo shot to start the second.

Quick added a second two-run home run in the bottom of the third.

Platte County answered with the lone hit but missed a chance to score there and then couldn’t advance sophomore right fielder Brynna Peterson after her one-out walk in the fifth, nor junior Reagan Ball’s two-out walk in the sixth. Kearney added two insurance runs in the fifth without a hit while chasing Salisbury then put up two more in the sixth against Ball, who pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief.

In each of the past two seasons, Platte County won the regular season matchup with Kearney only to lose in the postseason, but this time around, the Bulldogs pulled the sweep after overcoming an early 1-0 deficit in the first meeting this year.

“I really thought we were going to flip the script this time,” Peoples said.

Salisbury finished as Platte County’s lone four-year starter in this year’s senior class, having served as the No. 1 pitcher as a freshman and sophomore and then splitting time between in the circle with Ball and playing first base the past two seasons. Marlee Snyder-Richardson (second base) and Gwen Duncan (catcher) ended up taking consistent spots in the lineup the past two years, while Evie Thrasher returned from a year away to play a role in a deep outfield rotation in addition to contributions as a pinch and courtesy runner.

Platte County’s four seniors reached the Class 4 District 8 championship game in each of their four seasons but ended their careers unable to spring the program’s first playoff berth since 2021 when the Pirates finished third in state for a second consecutive year. The Pirates won 71 games the past four seasons with at least 19 in each of the past three.

“We’ve now gone through a full class with none of the girls knowing what it’s like to be at state,” Peoples said. “Once you have that feeling, you remember that feeling and take it into the next season. We haven’t been there since 2021, so this group didn’t know that feeling. It means something to have that.

“The senior class is always hard to see go, and I hate that we couldn’t get that experience for them.”