Members of the Marshall Optimist 14-and-under softball team wore their bronze medals after finishing third in the Show-Me State Games: (bottom row, from left) Alexis Eckhoff, Marissa Brackman, Haley Witcher, Megan Scott, Ashley del Rosario, Jessie Catlett, Stephanie Stark, (middle row) Chelsea Winter, Katlin Murray, LaVona Lawson, Lauren Russell, Allie Bockstetter, Chelsey Anderson, Britlin Murray and (top row) coaches Jeff Stubblefield, Ron Catlett and Wess Murray. (Photo contributed) [Click to enlarge]

Marshall began the meet Saturday with an 8-5 victory over the Missouri Blast of Festus, quickly building a 6-1 lead with three runs in each of the first two innings. Marissa Brackman's single in the first and Stephanie Stark's second-inning double both drove in a pair of runs.

Stark, Brackman and Katlin Murray each knocked in three runs and Stark, Ashley del Rosario and Jessie Catlett had two hits apiece.

It wasn't until an extra fifth inning that the Optimists pulled out a 7-5 win over the Crocker Royals later in the day.

After LaVona Lawton scored on a single by Chelsea Winter to break a 5-5 tie and Haley Witcher stole a base and came in when a third strike got away, Catlett blanked the Royals in the bottom half of the frame for the victory.

Lawton and Lauren Russell singled to cap a three-run first inning for Marshall, which added a run on Allie Bockstetter's single in the third and Brackman's base hit in the fourth to keep the game going.

The Optimists closed out the first day of action with another extra-inning win, Bockstetter delivering a game-winning single in the bottom of the fifth -- plating Stark with the tying run and Murray with the go-ahead tally.

The 4-3 quarterfinal decision over the Ozark Aces featured fine pitching, with Murray blanking Marshall's foe over the first three innings. She also singled in a run in the third for a 2-0 lead, but an error allowed the Aces' lead-off hitter to reach base in the top of the fourth and they were able to wheedle two runs to catch up.

The first loss for Marshall came in the semifinals Sunday, where the Black Widows of Granite City, Ill., got a no-hitter from Rebecca Strope for a 5-0 win. Michelle Cristel's two-run homer in the fifth polished off the win for the Widows, who went on to beat the Missouri Revolution of Jefferson City in the finals.

The Optimists still had a shot at the title in the double-elimination tournament, but were eliminated by the Revolution, 4-1, in the finals of the loser's bracket.

Shelby Esser's two-run single broke a scoreless tie in the Revolution second, but Marshall got one run back on a Witcher double in the bottom half of the inning. The Revs tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the fourth, getting an RBI single from Morgan Salmons, and pitcher Tiffany Urwiler made them hold up with two hitless innings.

The Optimists finished the season, which saw them compete in both the Sedalia and Columbia leagues, with a 13-24-1 overall mark. Brackman (.435) and Lawton (.420) led Marshall in batting average and Stark, Murray and Lawton each scored 21 runs. Stark also stole 17 bases and Bockstetter was the power bat with three homers and 27 RBIs.

Murray and Catlett were the workhorses on the mound, combining for nearly 127 of the team's 165 innings pitched.