Greenville softball, Bradford baseball continue postseason runs; postseason update

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By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — Playoff baseball and softball was in full swing on May 22 – 24. Here are the games, scores and stats from the teams around the county.

Arcanum Baseball:

Arcanum ends their season as Southwest Division III District runners-up and with a 21-6 record and as WOAC champions.

On May 22, they won 2-1 over Brookville on a walk-off hit by senior Caden Thompson. Senior Jaxson Christ also had a RBI. Freshman Regan Christ pitched all seven innings and had five strikeouts. Both Jaxson and Regan along with Thompson each had two hits.

On May 24, they lost 3-2 to the a Cinderella team in Waynesville, a 13 seed. Freshman Ethan Kearney had two hits and two RBI in the game. Senior Caden Thompson had six strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work.

The Trojans will graduate six seniors from this team.

Bradford Baseball:

The Railroaders are heading to the Southwest Division IV Regional semifinals after getting two wins and becoming District champions.

On May 22, they won 2-0 over Fort Loramie. For the past two season, Bradford has lost to Fort Loramie in the playoffs. Junior Tucker Miller and senior Landon Monnin both said it felt good to get the road win over the one seed.

“It’s amazing. We got knocked out by them two years in a row. We got run ruled. It was amazing to come back out, long time coming,” Miller said.

For head coach Bill Sturwold, it was a homecoming. Sturwold previously coached at Fort Loramie and won Division IV state titles with them in 2007 and 2010. He said while it did feel good to get this win, it was the players who really stepped up to get the upset win.

Monnin got the scoring started in the top of the second inning as he hit a solo home run to go up 1-0. For Monnin, it was sort of a surprise he was able to get one over the fence after switching to the left side of the plate.

“I wasn’t even expecting it because I didn’t bat lefty until this year,” Monnin said.

Junior Landon Wills had a RBI double in the third inning to go up 2-0. Then for the rest of the game, Miller’s pitching and the defense held Fort Loramie to two hits in the game. Miller pitched all seven innings and had nine strikeouts.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com

Then on May 24 at Houston High School, the Railroaders won 11-8 to become District champions. A seven-run fourth inning gave Bradford the lead and they held on the rest of the way. Monnin and junior Hudson Hill each had two RBI. Monnin had three hits as well.

Monnin also pitched all seven innings and had six strikeouts. Bradford will take on Southeastern Local on June 1 at 2 p.m. at Wittenberg Carlton Davidson Stadium in the Regional semifinal.

Greenville softball:

The Lady Wave softball team won in nine innings, 6-1, over Taylor at Wright State University on May 24 to move on to the Southwest Division II Regional final. It was a 1-1 game entering extras. Junior Mahayla Cook had an inside the park home run in the third inning to go up 1-0. Taylor scored in the fourth and had bases loaded twice. In the sixth, Newland avoided Taylor junior Camrynn Linneman. At the plate, Linneman was hitting .617 with 11 home runs and 57 RBI. All game long, they intentionally walked her. In the sixth, that loaded up the bases with no outs.

“We beat them two of the last three years to knock them out. They’re a good team, Cam is a one man show. A player isn’t going to beat a program. We harped on that this week pretty good,” Newland said. “We skated on water, we made some plays and we’re moving on.”

With sophomore Zoey Burns on the mound and a strong defense behind her, they got out of the jam allowing zero runs. In the bottom of the eighth, Taylor had bases loaded with one out. Again, the Lady Wave got out of the jam allowing zero runs.

In the top of the ninth inning, senior Alaina Baughn led off with a hit. Junior Addie Burke drove her in to make it a 2-1 game. The flood gates opened as Cook had a RBI double. Senior Skylar Fletcher had a two-run triple and then scored on a sacrifice groundout by sophomore Kylar Arnett. Burns and the defense closed out the game and will move on to the Regional finals. Burns pitched all nine innings allowing two hits and had 16 strikeouts.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com

Versailles baseball:

The Tigers finish the 2023 season as Southwest Division III District runners-up with an 18-12 record.

On May 22, they won 5-0 at Indian Lake to move on to the District finals. Seniors Joe Ruhenkamp and Jared Lyons each had two hits. Junior AJ Griesdorn pitched all seven innings and had seven strikeouts.

On May 24, they lost 7-4 to Cincinnati Country Day at Dayton Christian in the District finals. The team was down 4-0 after the first inning. They collected themselves after a few mistakes and got baserunners on throughout the game. Head coach Brad Koopman said they just couldn’t get them across.

Senior Ethan Stover had a RBI on a sacrifice ground out in the fourth to make it a 6-1 game. Senior Titus Gehret had a two run hit in the fourth as well. Senior Joe Ruhenkamp led off the fifth with a hit and then scored on a run down. Ruhenkamp tied the school record for hits in a season this game with 49. Koopman said all of the hard work Ruhenkamp as put in has paid off for him with the record.

But, Versailles couldn’t get more across and fell to the Nighthawks. Versailles will lose a great group of seniors who were major contributors to the team this season and throughout their careers. Koopman said this was one of the better groups he has been around during his time at Versailles.

“Nine years here now at Versailles, this is one of the best groups, no offense to any of the previous classes, but one of the best groups to be around. They’re so good with each other. They’re so good as a team to be on each other, picking each other up, supportive and to be right there,” Koopman said.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]

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