Ky Rulo-Townsend’s first year with the Montgomery County softball team was brief, but memorable.

Even though her Wildcats suffered a heartbreaking, 4-3 loss to the Valley Park Hawks in the Class 2, District 4 championship game on Oct. 14, Rulo-Townsend was happy that she wrapped up her first season with a trip to the district championship game. When MCHS’ season started in August, she wasn’t on the roster as she was at another school.

“It was an amazing experience,” said Rulo-Townsend, a senior. “I met some really good girls overall. I’ll definitely remember it forever.”

The Wildcats won their first two games by a combined score of 32-3 in the district tournament before falling to the Hawks in the finals at Valley Park High School. MCHS ended its season at 9-19.

“If you would have asked me a month ago if we were going to play for the district championship, I probably would have laughed,” MCHS coach Audra Heimer said. “We played really well at the end. This whole week, we hit the ball well, we played pretty good defense and we did what we had to do to get to the championship game. All in all, we had a pretty good week.”

The Wildcats made three trips to Valley Park, located 20 miles west of St. Louis, in a span of four days during the district tournament. They beat Metro 15-0 in the quarterfinals on Oct. 11 and Jefferson High School of Festus 17-3 in the semifinals the following day.

In the finals, MCHS lost to Valley Park on a one-out RBI single by pitcher Elsie McCabe with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. The Hawks improved to 13-11 and won their first district championship in program history.

“With our record, everyone thought that we weren’t going to do so hot,” MCHS junior center fielder El Reagan said. “Then, we came out here and we showed them what we had. Coming to the district championship game was just crazy.”

Valley Park, the top seed in the seven-team district tournament, denied the Wildcats their second district crown in program history. MCHS won a district title in 2018.

Sophomore Aliviah Fischer had two hits and Reagan, sophomore Miley Rieke, juniors Maddy Queathem and Erica Devlin and freshman Dylan Topel each had a hit for the Wildcats, who were the No. 3 seed.

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI sacrifice fly by Topel and an RBI single by Devlin. After Valley Park rallied to take a 3-2 lead, MCHS tied it at 3-3 in the top of the sixth on an RBI sacrifice fly by Rieke.

McCabe finished 2 for 4 with her game-winning hit in the bottom of the seventh. She delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 2-2.

“She’s been hitting the ball a lot better down the stretch,” Valley Park coach Katie Alexander said. “We got her to use her legs to hit for a little bit more power and it has really helped her.”

Besides Rulo-Townsend, seniors Carissa Doyle and Maddie Wisdom also played their last high school softball games for the Wildcats.

“They both play really well,” Rulo-Townsend said. “They’re just really good people overall.”

Rulo-Townsend joined the Wildcats in late September after transferring from Holt High School in Wentzville.

“I was kind of a go-to-school, go-to-work type of person,” Rulo-Townsend said. “They found out I didn’t live there, so I came here. I asked Taylor Janes if we had any openings on the softball team. She said, ‘Yes, we do.’ So I went to Heimer and I was like, ‘Hey, you need players?’ I got to practice that day and I got a physical that night.”

Rulo-Townsend had several strong performances, including a three-RBI effort against Jefferson in the district semifinals.

“Ky didn’t play all year, but she kind of made an impact,” Heimer said.

Rulo-Townsend already has high hopes for her team in 2023.

“I definitely think they can win it all next year,” the senior said. “I hope to come and watch them do it.”