Friday, April 22nd, 2022
Traffic on the basepaths
Redskins start fast, keep adding on to beat Indians
By Tom Haines
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
St. Henry's Lauren Robinette and Fort Recovery's Cali Wendel look to left field in the third inning, where Rya Buschur's drive fell in to move Robinette to third and bring home a run in the Redskins' 14-7 win at the Wally Post Athletic Complex on Thursday.
ST. HENRY - St. Henry's bats were active from the get-go and never let up, and Fort Recovery couldn't keep pace.
The Redskins scored five in the first and held off several Indians rallies, with a final five-run burst in the fifth putting the game out of reach for a 14-7 Midwest Athletic Conference softball victory at the Wally Post Athletic Complex on Thursday.
"I told the girls, even though we had a slow start at the beginning of the year, it doesn't mean that we can't come back in the second half," St. Henry coach Ashley Knapke said. "We can be a good team. They just need to keep their confidence up and their bats hot."
St. Henry (5-6, 3-2 MAC) wasted no time, starting with Rya Buschur's single to left before a sacrifice bunt moved her over to second base and a wild pitch sent her into third. Carlee Rethman hit a grounder to second that slipped under the glove of Fort Recovery's Cali Wendel, and Buschur came home to make it 1-0.
Lauren Thieman followed with a fly ball to right that glanced off Emma Will's glove, and Leah Lefeld smashed a drive off the scoreboard for a three-run home run.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
St. Henry's Leah Lefeld watches her home run off the scoreboard in right-center in the first inning of a game against Fort Recovery at the Wally Post Athletic Complex on Thursday.
After Indians pitcher Jackie Homan regrouped and struck out Claire Wendel, Jalynn Everman struck a line drive past the flags in left-center for a solo homer to put the Redskins up 5-0.
"I'm really proud of how we came out with the bats ready to go," Knapke said. "That's something we struggled with in the start of the season, and we've been really focusing on that lately. They came out and their bats were hot from the start, which was good to see… not watching any good strike go by, just going after it."
Fort Recovery (9-3, 2-1 MAC) picked up three runs over the next three innings thanks to two Redskins errors and Sophie Pearson threw a scoreless second in place of Homan, but St. Henry would not be held down long. Lefeld started things off with a one-out single and Pearson walked the next two hitters before a grounder get through shortstop Chloey Grisez's legs to bring home two runs.
Pearson struck out Rileigh Baumer before Buschur hit a hard drive right to left fielder Macy Shinabery, who let the ball bounce out of her glove to make it 8-3.
"We just didn't play our game, the way we've been playing all year," Fort Recovery coach Ryan Thien said. "We'd come up with a timely hit, and could've played better defense, but St. Henry hit us well tonight. So we'll tip our hats to them tonight."
Grisez bounced back with a two-out RBI double in the top of the fourth and Pearson added a bloop single to score another as the Indians got back within three, but the Redskins took advantage of two errors and a bases-loaded walk to answer with a run of their own.
In the fifth, Rethman gave up a two-out single by Cali Wendel to bring a run home, and Abby Knapke worked a walk before Kensey Gaerke hit a ground ball through the left side for another RBI single that cut the lead to 9-7. Knapke tried to go all the way to third and was thrown out from left field to end the threat.
"She hit her spots really well," coach Knapke said of Rethman. "Carlee battled, and she did what she needed to do. So she did a great job up there."
St. Henry responded with another surge, with two dropped fly balls sandwiched around a bloop single to bring the lead back to three. Pearson got a lineout to Grisez at short before Lefeld hit a flare to shallow right to bring home Lauren Mestemaker and Claire Wendel grounded back to the pitcher to score courtesy runner Sophie Lange.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
St. Henry shortstop Jalynn Everman tags out Fort Recovery courtesy runner Audra Bubp in the basepath in the third inning at the Wally Post Athletic Complex on Thursday.
Everman stepped into the box and sent a 2-1 pitch flying just over the left field fence for a two-run homer to complete the scoring.
Pearson finished out the game, pitching five innings and giving up nine runs, two earned, on five hits and five walks while striking out six. Homan took the loss after the Redskins went ahead in her one inning of work.
"We've been doing that all year, trying to mix it up on teams," Thien said of the switch to Pearson. "There's no real reason, except we were one time through the lineup and we wanted to give Sophie the next time through the lineup, and then I just never saw or had the opportunity to switch them back. If we'd have gotten a couple more runs, you'd have seen Jackie again."
The Indians got a leadoff double in the sixth before Rethman retired the next three hitters, and Homan got to second with one out in the seventh after Lauren Robinette muffed a fly ball in right field. Homan moved to third on a wild pitch, but Rethman struck out Cali Wendel and got Knapke to pop out to Everman at the edge of the grass to end the game.
All told, Rethman pitched seven innings and gave up four earned runs on nine hits and three walks, striking out five and inducing nine outs in the air.
"We were getting under the ball for some reason tonight, and that's usually not us," Thien said. "We were popping some balls up. I don't know, maybe it was her rise ball that she had working pretty good tonight, we couldn't lay off of it. But we were definitely getting under it."
St. Henry returns to action Monday when St. Marys comes to town, and Fort Recovery is off until Tuesday, when the Indians return home to take on Coldwater in another MAC showdown.
