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St. Marys' Calianna Bond-Awls crosses the plate as Bath catcher Hailee Mauk gets to the ball.
ELIDA - Three postponements did nothing to stop the action in the Division IV softball district semifinal between St. Marys and Bath at Elida. The Roughriders used a big second inning to eventually lead 5-0, but the Wildcats rallied to steal the win 6-5 in extras and advance to the district final.
"It is definitely disappointing," said St. Marys coach Kendra Solomon, whose team finishes with a 13-9 record. "We had high goals and high aspirations for this team. They were very capable of doing a little bit more than what we were able to do this season with some ups and downs and not finishing in certain situations. But I'm still proud of this group as a whole and how far they have come."
The Wildcats will play tonight for the district title in Margaretta against Bellville Clear Fork, with first pitch set for 5 p.m.
It was a loud start for the St. Marys offense in the second inning. A patient Ava Klosterman eventually got her pitch and sent the ball over the fence in centerfield to give her team a 1-0 lead with the first swing of the inning.
The scoring continued as three straight singles, including a knock from Raegan Caffee, made it 2-0. A wild pitch scored Taylor Meyer and the lead swelled to 4-0 after Adyson Van De Keere's infield hit plated Caffee.
The four-run, five-hit inning was all the St. Marys bats had to offer over the first five innings as Van De Keere kept the Wildcats off the board in the circle.
St. Marys' Adyson Van De Keere (7) snares a pop fly during Thursday's Division IV district game against Bath.
As the game entered the sixth with St. Marys still ahead 4-0, a lead off single from Meyer looked to provide a spark. A one-out double from Makenna Meinerding found the grass in left field and brought Meyer in from first. The Riders lead grew to 5-0 and they looked well on their way.
Then the Bath bats woke up.
Mara Davis took a pitch off her foot to put the leadoff runner on, and a double from Hailee Mauk made it a 5-1 game two pitches later. A ground ball from Aaliyah Young forced Mauk to go home, and the throw was low as Mauk made it home with a slide.
Two fielder's choices made it a manageable situation for Van De Keere in the circle, yet a walk extended the inning. Despite the runners already advancing, St. Marys catcher Aiden Young threw down to third. As the ball trickled into the outfield, Addy Rex crossed the plate to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Delaynee Jackson broke the inning open a batter later with her two-run double that was over the head of Caffee in left field. It tied the game at 5-5, and all the momentum was with the light blue and yellow of Bath.
After a quiet seventh inning, St. Marys went down in order in the eighth, and it was up to the Wildcats to win it.
A two-out walk to Mia Reindel put the winning run on, and an error from Meyer at shortstop moved Reindel to second. Alycen Stumbaugh whacked a liner to right, and a leaping Meinerding could not reel it in. Reindel scored, and the celebrations commenced at home plate.
"(Bath) stayed aggressive and kept with it," Solomon said. "We did a couple little things to help them out and they have timely hits at the end, we did not. That's how it goes sometimes. So credit to (Bath) for fighting through it."
Van De Keere took the loss, but struck out eight over her 7 2/3 innings. Two of the six Wildcats runs were charged to the Riders' pitcher, who also finished with a hit. Klosterman and Meyer both had two hits to lead the offense.
Madison Edelbrock got the win for Bath and finished with five strikeouts. Stumbaugh and Rex had two hits each.
