Tough loss in final

LIMA - It looked like déjà vu for St. Marys on Saturday afternoon.

The Roughriders took a 2-0 lead with a home run in the first inning, much like a two-run shot in Thursday's Division II softball district semifinal against Bath put the Riders ahead.

But on Saturday, Shawnee rallied, took the lead in the fifth and then applied the coup de grâce in the top of the seventh to capture the district title 8-3 at the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima.

The Indians (20-8) travel to Tiffin University on Wednesday to take on Madison Comprehensive at 2 p.m. in the regional semifinals.

The Roughriders, who were looking to win their first district title since their state runner-up team in 2007, end the season at 14-11.

"We started with some momentum," said St. Marys coach Kendra Solomon. "Shawnee does a great job hitting the ball hard and sticking with it. I respect what (Shawnee coach Eric) Truxal does over there."

St. Marys got things going in the bottom of the first. Kiley Tennant bunted her way on for a single and moved to second on Emma Birt's sacrifice bunt. Renee Sweigart stepped in and took a 2-1 Kaylee Grant offering over the left-center fence to make it 2-0.

After Shawnee picked up a run in the top of the third, St. Marys got the run back in the bottom of the inning, with Tennant again getting things going, this time with a hard-shot single down the first base line when the Indians were looking for a bunt. After Tennant moved up on a passed ball and an out, Sweigart stepped up again with an RBI single and went to second on an error.

But the turning point may have occurred after Karsyn McGlothen walked. Morgan Hirschfeld popped a ball into the short grass, and Shawnee third baseman Allie Hutchins got the force on Sweigart's courtesy runner Abby Williams. Ashlyn Rush, McGlothen's courtesy runner, had gone back thinking the ball would be caught, giving Hutchins time to throw to second for the unique 5-4 double play to end the threat.

The play stymied the Roughriders as Grant, the WBL co-Player of the Year, gave up a single in the fourth and had a runner reach on an error in the sixth, but did not let a runner get past second the rest of the day.

"That was big," said Truxal. "They had the meat of their order up there. They've been hurting us all day. (Tennant) is really special (as is) their three-hitter (Sweigart)."

Shawnee tied the game in the top of the fourth as Hutchins reached on a one-out walk and scored on Payton Modschiedler's triple to right to make the score 3-2. Modschiedler later tied the game when she came home on a wild pitch.

Carmi Winegardner started the game-winning rally in the fifth with a one-out triple and scored on Grant's single to left.

Insurance - and plenty of it - came in the top of the seventh as the wheels came off for the Roughriders. Two errors, two walks and a hit batsmen went with two singles to bring home four runs as Shawnee sent 10 batters to the plate.

"We had some mental mistakes and costly errors," said Solomon. "But that's likely to happen when you have a powerful team that puts the ball into play like Shawnee."

All that remained for Grant was to get three outs against the eighth, ninth and lead-off batter in the order. Grant struck out Elly Wedding for the first out before getting Kenzie Henning to pop back up to the circle for the second. Tennant, already 2-for-3 with two runs scored, worked the count full before hitting a hard grounder to Hutchins at third, with the throw to Kyra Vermillion on the mark to end the game.

"Right now, we're living the dream," said Truxal when asked if he thought his team would be going to regional. "It's a new day and we're trying to survive."

Until the seventh, McGlothen gave Shawnee fits, according to Truxal. The junior allowed just eight hits in the game and struck out nine.

"Karsyn had a great game," said Truxal. "She had us stumped all day."

Solomon could not be prouder of her team for advancing as far as it did.

"Extremely proud," said Solomon. "Very proud of what they've done, the work they've done and the growing they've done during the season. Our record doesn't always show how much they've grown. Proud of each of them."