The West Plains Zizzers baseball team capped its regular season with an offensive outburst May 14 in a 13-3 road victory over Springfield-Hillcrest.
The Zizzers stole 11 bases and collected 13 hits in the win, haunting the Hornets with aggressive baserunning. Ethan Miller, Josiah Long, Dominic Hale and Keenan Holloway anchored a balanced offense.
“We played really well,” West Plains Head Coach James Sharp said. "On the mound, we did not give up a single earned run."
Hale earned the win, pitching two hitless innings with three strikeouts. Drew Melvin followed with two scoreless innings of relief.
The win over Hillcrest followed a split series against Branson earlier in the week.
On May 13, the Zizzers fell 2-0 in a pitchers’ duel at Branson. West Plains’ Ryan Montgomery no-hit the Pirates for five innings before yielding two hits in the bottom of the sixth that led to a 2-0 Branson lead.
"We tried to answer in the seventh when Camden Bryant hit a two-out triple, followed by a walk to Creyton Sullivan, before we made the final out," Sharp said.
The day prior, the Zizzers dominated Branson 9-0 at Zizzer Ballpark. Landon Montgomery threw a complete-game shutout, allowing four hits while striking out nine. Josiah Long drove in four runs on three hits to lead the offense.
Coach Sharp Reaches Milestone
The strong final week followed a milestone victory for Coach Sharp on May 4, when the Zizzers defeated Salem 10-3 to secure his 100th career win.
Despite breaking the game open late with 10 hits, Sharp noted his team “did not play our best baseball by any means.” Hale led the offense with three hits, including an RBI double during a seven-run sixth inning. Long added a two-run single.
Hale also earned the win on the mound, striking out six over two scoreless innings, while Landon Montgomery set the tone early with two hitless frames.
That milestone victory helped the Zizzers bounce back from a tough two-game sweep by Marshfield on April 29 and 30, where the Blue Jays’ offense proved too much to handle in 11-2 and 12-2 losses.
The Zizzers’ cleanest performance of the late season came on May 1 in a combined 5-0 no-hitter against Ava at Zizzer Ballpark. Ryan Montgomery struck out 13 over six no-hit innings before Tayt Duggins closed out the game in the seventh.
District Tournament
The Zizzers' momentum carried into the Class 5 District 6 tournament at Willard High School, where they opened play on May 18 with a 9-2 victory over Hillcrest.
However, West Plains’ postseason run ended on May 20 with a narrow 3-2 loss to the top-seeded Willard Tigers.
Statistics courtesy of 2026 GameChanger, Inc
