By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

DAYTON — The Lady Wave softball team is heading to the Regional finals. After being tied 1-1 after seven innings, Greenville scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to win 6-1 over Taylor at Wright State University in the Southwest Division II Regional semifinals on May 24. It was the second straight year the Lady Wave defeated the Lady Yellowjackets.

It was almost a home game for Greenville as the students and the community showed out for the team. Head coach Jerrod Newland said it was great to see the fans show their support for his team.

“If you looked around the stadium, the amount of fans that had Lady Wave softball represented, I am indebted to the fans and the community,” Newland said.

It was a pitching duel for the majority of the game. Taylor had the Cincinnati Hills League Athlete of the Year and all-league First Team player junior Camrynn Linneman on the mound. She had a 0.62 ERA with 257 strikeouts on the season entering this game.

For Greenville, sophomore Zoey Burns was on the mound and was recently named to the All-MVL First Team.

Greenville struck first on an inside the park home run from junior Mahayla Cook in the top of the third inning to go up 1-0.

Taylor didn’t take long to respond. In the bottom of the fourth inning with runners on second and third, senior Karlie Burdick had a sacrifice bunt to tie the game at 1-1.

Greenville had runners in scoring position a few times late in the game, but couldn’t capitalize.

For Taylor, they had bases loaded twice. In the bottom of the sixth with no outs, Linneman was up to bat. Newland intentionally walked Linneman every time she stepped up to the plate. Even in this situation, Newland loaded up the bases and did not let Linneman’s bat be a factor.

On the season, Linneman was hitting .617 with 11 home runs and 57 RBI. Newland said he wasn’t going to let Linneman beat them.

“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.”

For the first out in the sixth, Greenville got the force out at home. Burns then struck out the next batter and senior Skylar Fletcher was able to make a play on a ground ball and get the out at first to end the inning.

When the game went into extra innings in the bottom of the eighth, Taylor had bases loaded with one out. Greenville got the force out at home again and proceeded to get out of the inning still tied at 1-1.

Then the bats started to get hot for Greenville. Newland said he was confident the team would start hitting after seeing Linneman twice already.

Senior Alaina Baughn led off the top of the ninth with a lead off hit. After making her way to third base, junior Addie Burke drove her in to take a 2-1 lead.

The flood gates then opened after Cook hit a RBI double. Fletcher then continued the scoring with a two-run triple. Sophomore Kylar Arnett then drove Fletcher in with a sacrifice groundout to go up 6-1.

Burns, with the help from her defense, closed the game out to move on to the Regional finals. Burns pitched all nine innings allowing two hits and had 16 strikeouts. Newland said he was proud of his players for getting themselves out of jams and for getting this win.

“ZB is a stud, she’s good. She had 16 Ks in the regionals. We played great defense around her and it’s just grinding,” Newland said.

Linneman pitched all nine innings as well and had nine strikeouts.

Greenville last made the Regional finals in 2021. They will take on Kenton Ridge on May 26 at 5 p.m. back at Wright State. Sort of like last season, Greenville will follow up a win over Taylor with a game against Kenton Ridge. The two teams met in the Regional semifinals last season with Kenton Ridge taking the win, 2-1, at Mason.

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