A great game with a nightmare finish ends Lady Pirates run at Regionals
Then came a nightmare finish which saw Garaway fall, and fall hard.
It all added up to a disappointing 14-1 loss, disappointing in that the game truly was everything a Regional contest should be, clear into the sixth inning.
Garaway freshman Allison Luneborg matched arms with Wheelersburg senior Abbi Sparks on the mound, and the two of them went to work mowing down hitters and keeping the game low scoring.
Despite getting runners on base in all three of the first three inning, Wheelersburg (22-1) was unable to push any runner past second base, stranding five.
Meanwhile, after a Kendall Reidenbach single to begin the Garaway first, Sparks began plowing through the Lady Pirates order, striking out four hitters in a five-batter span, retiring nine straight hitters after the lead-off single.
Rachel Blair finally broke the ice in the fourth inning, blasting a solo home run over the fence in left-center, a liner which barely suck over the top of the wall.
Hannah Halstead got the Lady Pirates second hit of the game to start the bottom of the fourth, and after Tristan Hostetler sacrificed her to second with two outs, Lexi Lingler hard shot to center was snagged, Garaway coming up empty.
A normally stout Garaway defense let them down a bit in the fifth, when the lady Pirates of Wheelersburg tacked on another run to make it 2-0.
In that inning, Luneborg got the first two hitters out, but then hit Wheelersburg star Michael Cunningham, who is batting over .600 and will be attending national powerhouse LSU next year to play softball.
Reidenbach then fired a pitch down to first base picking off Cunningham, but instead of heading back to the bag, she took off for second base. Lingler’s throw to second glanced off Cunningham, allowing her to reach base safely.
That hurt, because the next hitter, Taylor Dempsey, singled in the game’s second run.
Luneborg came in to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning, with her team now trailing 2-0, and promptly made it 2-1 by sending her first career home run soaring over the fence in center field.
Now trailing 2-1, Garaway had high hopes of an upset bid over the State’s number two ranked team.
Unbeknownst to them, things were about to get ugly.
A seemingly harmless walk and a fly out to center opened the inning, but Sparks singled to center and a missed tag on a routine grounder to second allowed Kirsten Nolte to reach, loading the bases with one out.
Lead-off hitter Callie Coleman then unleashed a single to center to plate two runs to make it 4-1.
Wheelersburg was just getting started.
a Reagan Reyes single reloaded the bases, and Cunningham uncorked a two-run double. Dempsey followed with a run scoring single, and just like that it was 8-1.
There was no recovering from that onslaught, and Wheelersburg added another six runs in the top of the seventh, when they finally chased Luneborg and continued their offensive explosion against senior Cassie Yoder.
In almost the blink of an eye, Wheelersburg had shown everyone why they are a force in Div. III softball, proving their worth as the number two ranked team in the State.
At the same time, two inning will not define a tremendous season for the Lady Pirates, one which saw them finish the year with an inspired late-season run that took them all the way to the Regional tournament, where they went toe-to-toe with one of the State finest.