By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — Here are the scores and stats from the high school softball District Finals games from May 17-18.

1. Tri-Village 10 vs 1. Southeastern Local 1

PLEASANT HILL — The Lady Patriots claimed their first District title since 1992 with the win over Southeastern.

Head coach Emily Osborne said after stranding runners in the first few innings, the team started to get runners across.

Senior Kiersten Wilcox said winning this title feels great after going through the ups and downs since her freshman year.

“My freshman year, we rode the struggle bus for a long time. It feels good to finally get some wins under our belt and prove ourselves,” Wilcox said.

Freshman Emma Greer hit a triple in her first at bat in the top of the first inning. Wilcox drove her in to go up 1-0. Freshman Kaley Brandon drove in another run in the top of the fourth to give Tri-Village a 2-0 lead.

The momentum swung in the Lady Patriots’ favor after Southeastern got their first two hits of the game in the fourth inning but couldn’t get on the scoreboard.

In following inning, Tri-Village loaded the bases with sophomore Hailey Burk at the plate. She hit her second triple of the game to take a 5-0 lead. Burk said all she was thinking about in that moment was coming through for her teammates and letting them continue this scoring run.

“At the box I kept thinking to myself that I’m doing it, I’m doing it because my team needs me right here. We have to put runs up on the board. I did exactly that,” Burk said.

Osborne said that hit gave her team the momentum they needed to take control of the game. She was also happy to see the team adjust after seeing the pitcher one time through.

Brandon drove in Burk to go up 6-0. In the sixth inning, Wilcox had a two-run single and Burk had a two-run double to go up 10-0.

Southeastern could only muster one run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Outside of that, sophomore Elizabeth Poling and Greer shut them down on the mound.

The defense came through with some big plays. All game long the defense was in the right place at the right time and made a play to get the out. Greer from her third base position caught a few line drives and Poling almost caught one. She couldn’t hold on but picked up the ball and still got the out.

“It’s obviously nerve-racking when you’re out there playing and you get that line drive hit to you. To come up big with the catch or continue to make the play and get an out, that shows they’re out there to be ready and get the out,” Osborne said.

The Lady Patriots will take on third seed Fort Loramie on May 22 at 2 p.m. at Northmont High School in the OHSAA Division IV Softball Regional Semi-Finals.

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

1. Greenville 9 vs 2. Taylor 0

CARLISLE — The Lady Wave have won their 16th District title in the last 18 years with this win over Taylor. Head coach Jerrod Newland said the team was prepared for this game against a great team and program in Taylor.

“We were ready to play today. I was excited to get out here and finally get a chance to play. We’ve been geared up for about a week on this one, ready to roll,” Newland said.

Junior Zoey Burns and sophomore Kendall Cromwell hit back to back doubles in the bottom of the first inning to give Greenville a 1-0 lead.

Cromwell drove in her second run of the game in the third inning on a sacrifice groundout.

Junior Kylar Arnett started the inning off with a single. After a stolen base and a throwing error, she made her way to third base during Burns’ at bat.

Newland said in big games, teams decide what they want to do and stick with it. The Lady Wave were aggressive at the plate and aggressive on the base pads.

Senior Savannah Leach and Haleight McDermitt each had a RBI single in the fourth inning as Greenville went up 4-0.

Then in the fifth inning, Burns was set to lead off. Newland wanted to pitch hit for Burns at first so she can cool down and get away from the heat.

Burns wasn’t going to give up her at bat. She then led off the inning with a solo home run.

“I look at Zoey and she leads off. I said, ‘Oh honey, let’s go sit down and get some water. I’ll hit for you.’ She looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I want to hit.’ The coaches all laughed and I said ‘Well hell Zoe go hit.’ Then she hit it over the fence,” Newland said.

Seniors Ella McLear and Mahayla Cook each drove in a run. Leach drove in her second run of the game as the Lady Wave took an 8-0 lead after five innings. They added on another run in the sixth inning off an error.

Taylor only had four base runners in the game. They only had runners in scoring position once in the game. Burns and the Greenville defense didn’t give away many free bases.

Burns finished with 10 strikeouts and allowed two hits.

Newland said the competitive and the supporting nature of the program has led them to winning 16 of the last 18 District titles.

“It’s pretty competitive around us daily. The last three weeks, the young kids are getting so much better and competitive. It’s very competitive. We enjoy getting better and working hard,” Newland said. “Getting here that many times is cool. But winning it is nuts. You’re playing good teams. It’s not like you’re getting cake walks in our division.”

Greenville will take on one seed Kenton Ridge in the OHSAA Division II Softball Southwest Regional Semi-Finals on May 22 at 5 p.m. at Wright State. Greenville beat Kenton Ridge in the Regional Finals last season, 5-2.

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

2. Ansonia 0 vs 2. Fayetteville-Perry 5

BELLBROOK — After five time and venue changes, Ansonia and Fayetterville-Perry finally got things settled and played at Bellbrook High School on May 18. The Lady Tigers finish their season as OHSAA Division IV Softball Southwest District runner-ups as they lost to Fayetteville-Perry in the District Finals.

Head coach David Fisherback said it was one of those off games where the team couldn’t put the ball in play. They struck out 15 times in the game as Fayetteville-Perry senior Izabella Waddle threw a no-hitter.

“We have to put the bat on the ball. All year long we’ve been doing that. Tonight, of those strikeouts I think about, we swung at about 70% of them were balls. She threw that rise, she mixed it very well. Give her all the credit in the world,” Fisherback said.

Ansonia had a chance in the third inning to take a lead. Senior Brenna Schmidt walked to lead off the inning and made her way to third base with one out. Ansonia couldn’t get her across to take an early lead.

In the next half inning, the Lady Rockets took a 2-0 lead and never gave it up. They scored two more runs in the fourth inning and scored an insurance run in the seventh inning.

Fisherback said Fayetteville-Perry was able to put the ball in play and the ball found some open room.

Ansonia did make the Lady Rockets work for their runs. Twice in the game, Ansonia was able to get an out at home plate to prevent more runs from scoring.

But it just wasn’t the Lady Tigers day. They end the year with a 21-7 record and a 9-2 WOAC record.

Fisherback said he is thankful for the Ansonia Board of Education for allowing him to coach an outstanding group of young ladies.

Despite the loss, the team did have a great year. Fisherback said he told his team after the game that they belong here. They stacked some impressive wins over the course of the year.

While the team will graduate a talented senior class, they have some exciting young talent waiting in the wings for their chance to shine.

“We’re obviously going to miss our five seniors that we have. But, the good thing is we have a lot of young kids that will be stepping right in and fill those voids,” Fisherback said.

Ansonia will graduate seniors Brenna and Bailey Schmit, Maddie Buckingham, Kelsey Muhlenkamp and Abby Kramer.

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