The season for the Wadsworth Varsity Softball team came to an end on Thursday. In the Barberton District semi-finals, the top-seeded Walsh Jesuit Warriors defeated the Lady Grizzlies 9-4.
But, don’t let the final score fool you. Wadsworth put a big time scare into the state-ranked Warriors.
Walsh built a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, thanks to a two-run homer off the bat of McKenzi Gerry.
But, the Lady Grizzlies came back quickly. Following a one-out walk, consecutive singles by Sarah Hoffman, Julia Horton, Cara Crookston and Kaitlin Murphy tied the score at 2. A groundout by Lainey Schoonover scored Crookston and gave the Lady Grizzlies a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the third.
Wadsworth head Coach Michelle DeAngelis said her team “was able to see a lot of pitches. We were able to get into a lot of deep counts against their good pitchers”.
Knowing they were in a game, the Warriors scored 4 runs in the bottom of the third and 2 more in the fourth to take an 8-3 lead. Both teams scored scored a run in the fifth inning to make the final 9-4.
Crookston said the bottom of the third did the Lady Grizzlies in. “They just got the hits that inning and we didn’t after that”. In that third inning, Walsh put together a single, two doubles, a triple, a walk, stolen base, wild pitch and an error to score four runs.
DeAngelis said “when you’re playing a team like Walsh you have to play seven solid innings. Unfortunately, we had some innings when we didn’t do that”.
Julia Horton had two hits and an RBI for the Lady Grizzlies. For Walsh, all-state senior shortstop Lily Piper had four hits, two singles, a double and a triple, plus two runs scored.
Wadsworth ends the season with a record of 16-10. Walsh now has a record of 23-3.
