Somewhere about the fourth or fifth inning, the Lady Raiders realized they had a chance to beat a ranked team. All of a sudden, a largely meaningless game became important.
Three Rivers College held on late to beat Crowder 6-5, and the Lady Raiders swarmed and jumped on Wiley Lowry, who got the save.
"We had nothing to lose was their attitudes," Three Rivers coach Jeff Null said. "They played loose and it was nice."
Null went into the game with a scripted plan to get each of his four pitchers some work. Maci Coleman, Carleigh Burnett and Lowry would each pitch two innings and Kira Cunningham one.
He added that he would do the same in the second leg of the doubleheader, which was postponed until 10 a.m. Thursday, ending after presstime.
"I think they were glad we were getting to play before going to regionals," Null said.
They would do this regardless of the score. The positional players would get work, as well. The morning forecast was ominous. By the time the game started at noon, central Missouri was getting hit with heavy storms, and they were predicted reach Poplar Bluff around one or two hours.
"I knew we were probably just going to get one game in because of the rain, so I just wanted to get everybody a little bit of work," Null said.
When Lowry took the circle in the top of the seventh, a different, whiter, lower altitude shade of clouds swept over the trees beyond the right-field fence.
Several members of the Raider baseball team picked up their chairs and got ready to leave as the rain hit the hillside, then them, then Rains Field.
Lowry worked quick and retired the side and heavy rains hit the field before the opposing coaches were finished talking.
"That was a big win for us. You could tell by the way we celebrated," Null said. "It's huge for our confidence."
Lowry, who pitched the final two innings for her third save of the season, didn't allow a baserunner.
Kira Cunningham (1-0) pitched the fifth inning and got her first win. She allowed a hit, a run and a walk with no strikeouts.
The pitching staff allowed five hits and a walk. Three runs were earned after the defense committed four errors.
Crowder (48-7, 19-4 Region XVI), ranked 18th in the nation, took a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the third.
With one out, Randi Scruggs and Morgan Ledure singled for the Lady Raiders (29-23, 13-10). Lexi Morris then roped a two-run double that hit halfway up the fence in the air.
With two outs, MaKayla Lamphier connected for another double to tie the game.
Lowry singled in the bottom of the fifth. The catcher tried to pick her off at first, but the throw was wide and rolled into the right-field corner and Lowry scored easily.
"About the fourth or fifth inning, we realized we had a chance to win it and they competed their tails off the rest of the way," Null said. "I don't think anybody put too much pressure on themselves because we were playing a ranked team."
Morris, who finished 1 for 3 with two runs and two RBIs, added a run in the next inning after drawing a leadoff walk. Courtney Slayton followed with a double to put runners on second and third with nobody out.
Ally Hendricks then hit a sacrifice fly to left field.
Scruggs was 3 for 4 with two runs as the Lady Raiders finished with nine total hits.
Crowder had won the first two games of the series 10-2 and 8-0 on April 15.