One win for Connersville to open Southern Warrior Classic

The Connersville Lady Spartan softball team picked up their first win of the 2025 season 9-5 over the Sycamore Lady War Eagles in the third of six games for Connersville at the Southern Warrior Classic in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Wednesday.

“We hit a lot better in that game,” Connersville Head Coach Steve Ruble said. “We’re starting to knock some rust off. We’re still a little shaky on defense. We’ve got some girls in different positions.”

Connersville scored in the top of the first inning off a RBI single from junior Maggie Spurlock to score senior Bre Brock. Spurlock and senior Josey Selby would score off a RBI single from senior Addison Phillips to take an early 3-0 lead. Phillips would have 2 RBI for the game.

Freshman Arianna Escobal, sophomore Makilah Smith, senior Jade Green, and Spurlock would score runs in the top of the second to give Connersville a commanding 7-0 lead. Selby had an RBI double in the second with Spurlock collecting her second RBI of the contest.

Green had 6 strikeouts in 5 innings in the pitching circle for the Lady Spartans. Escobal had 1 strikeout in 1 and 1/3 innings of relief. Sycamore narrowed the Connersville advantage to 4 runs at 7-3 in the bottom of the third. A Brock RBI single would score Green in the top of the fourth. Brock would go on to score to Lady Spartans final run before the War Eagles could retire the side.

Sycamore would score 2 runs in a late comeback attempt in the bottom of the seventh. Connersville senior catcher Carmen Ruble caught a runner stealing second, and a line out to Green at third base ended the War Eagle threat.

Connersville fell 4-1 to the Deshler Lady Tigers out of Tuscumbia, Alabama in the Lady Spartans season opener on Wednesday morning. The Lady Tigers scored 2 runs in the bottom of the first. A Selby RBI double would score Spurlock in the top of the third for the Lady Spartans lone run of the game. The Lady Tigers would score in the bottom of the fifth and collected an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth.

Escobal had 2 hits for Connersville in the tournament opener with Smith, Spurlock, Selby, Ruble, and freshman Sydney Lainhart had 1 hit each. Green collected 4 strikeouts in a complete game in the pitching circle.

Competition in the 90 plus team showcase held annually at Riverdale High School. The Southern Warrior Classic features teams from Tennessee, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The host Lady Warriors began competition for the spring season in February.

“We couldn’t get to bats going,” Ruble said. “We lost the first two games. They’ve already got 20 games under their belt. That was our first game, so we’re right there with the teams that beat us. There are several Indiana teams that come down. This year it seemed like something to try out. You can set your own schedule up to nine games. We decided to go with six.”

Spurlock had 2 home runs with 3 RBI in a 7-5 loss to the St. Viator Lady Lions in game 2. St. Viator took an early 2-0 lead after the first inning. A Spurlock solo home run cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second before the Lady Lions took a 6-1 lead in the top of the third.

[Maggie is] about the only thing we had going in that second game,” Ruble said. “We had a huge base running mistake, [and] probably would have came back in that one. The bats were starting to come alive.”

The Lady Spartans would rally to cut the Lady Lion lead to 1 run heading into the seventh inning with runs by senior Alyssa Lovins, Smith, Spurlock, and Green. Escobal had 1 strikeout in 6 innings in the pitching circle with Green coming in for relief. Connersville will conclude the early season tournament with 3 games on Thursday.