A late bloomer if ever there was one at Nixa, Chloe Krans’ diminutive frame as a tiny tot led to her parents affectionately calling her, “Chloe bird.”
“I was always kind of tiny, so they put Chloe and bird together,” Krans said. “I’ve been called that forever. I think it's going to stick.”
“She's not small anymore. She's a soaring Eagle right now,” coach Matt Walker quipped.
‘Chloe bird’ has indeed taken full flight. So too did her game-winning solo home run in Nixa’s 4-3 Class 5 District 6 championship game victory versus Ozark on Saturday. Krans ended the title tilt with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning with a line drive over the center-field fence.
“It's fitting for her to finish this one off for us,” Walker said.
Krans’ homer gave the Lady Eagles their program’s first District title since 2010, just as the junior second baseman’s two game-winning homers against Joplin and Republic were largely responsible for Nixa’s undefeated run to its COC championship.
“She comes through in the clutch a lot,” shortstop Phoebe Gardner said.
Krans relates she’s not immune to pressure at the plate.
“I was really nervous, actually,” she said of her final at-bat Saturday. “But right before I stepped into the batter's box, I told myself to calm down and I had to focus.”
Krans also recalled encouraging words from her mother.
“My mom sent me a long text before the game,” Chloe said. “It was a lot about how much work I have put in and that my practice will pay off, that I just have to keep doing what I have been doing. I read it right before the game in the dugout. It gave me even more confidence. My parents are a huge part contributing to my confidence level.
“These last few games, my confidence has been higher,” she added. “I have this sense I can do it.”
Krans actually had to convince herself she wanted to deliver opposite Ozark pitcher Jordyn Foley. The two are former teammates for a summer hoops team, Basketball Academy.
“We're good friends, so it was hard to get in the mindset that I was wanting to get a hit off her,” Krans said. “Even though she's my friend, she wasn't going to be my friend then.”
Krans was reminded that Foley was surely in a competitive mode, too, and was trying to strike her out.
“She did (in the second inning), so I had to get her back,” Krans said.
Nixa (23-8) came back to win for the second time in as many games. The Lady Eagles trailed Carthage 2-0 before winning 5-3 in the semifinal round and fell behind against Ozark 3-1.
The Lady Tigers (24-8) jumped on top by putting up three runs in the second inning. Aubrey Carlton belted a two-run home run.
In the bottom of the second, Nixa’s Sarah Sweaney made a bid for a homer herself at almost the exact location Carlton’s homer cleared the fence in left-center. But Ozark center-fielder Abby Ford robbed her of a homer while crashing into the fence.
Ford also starred with her bat by going 3-for-4. But her impact on the proceedings was hindered by her batting with two outs in both the second and fourth. She singled and was stranded in both innings.
Ford led off the seventh and singled again, but was stranded again. Despite her three hits, she did not factor in Ozark’s scoring.
Nixa tied things at 3-all in the fifth, with two ground balls that the Lady Tigers turned into a fielder’s choice and an error looming large.
It was just the kind of scenario winning pitcher Maddy Meierer hoped she would find herself in. She struck out four of the final seven batters she faced and fanned 11 overall.
“Whenever it's tied, I pitch better because I know I'm going to have to battle,” Meierer said. “I came into today hoping we would win by one point and in overtime, or whatever you want to call it.”
Nixa advances to the Quarterfinal round and will play at Blue Springs South (28-4) on Thursday.
