- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,256,578
- Reaction score
- 59
PORTSMOUTH — When one even mentions the words Wheelersburg or Notre Dame softball, one already knows what to expect from the two state championship winning softball programs in Scioto County.
With both, you'll get programs that are willing to take on the best of the best around — and live with the results regardless of how they go down, knowing that they both played highly-competitive competition.
Leading 5-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning of work, the Wheelersburg Pirates' softball program had OHSAA Division IV State Champion Kenton Ridge on the ropes, but the Lady Cougars were able to rally with a six-run seventh to defeat the Lady Pirates, 7-5, in a neutral-site contest that was held at Notre Dame High School in Portsmouth. Notre Dame then suffered a 15-4 loss to Kenton Ridge later in the day in a pair of terrific softball clashes that were held as part of the Champions Classic Saturday at Notre Dame High School.
(Game 1) Kenton Ridge 7, Wheelersburg 5
In the opening contest of the day, Teresa Ruby's group started out Saturday's opener with a bang.
On the second pitch of the game, Wheelersburg senior Mylee Gleim rocketed a no doubt homer to left field that went 235 feet and cleared the left field wall with ease.
Two pitches later, Mati Jennings added in an opposite field home run of her own — and just four pitches into Saturday's affair between two of the best teams in the state, Wheelersburg held a 2-0 lead over Kenton Ridge.
The Lady Pirates then added in a third run later in the frame — as singles by Ava Estep and Jalynn Drake resulted in a double steal later in the inning, giving Wheelersburg a 3-0 lead after the opening frame of action.
Kenton Ridge got a run back later in the opening inning on an RBI single by JJ Davis, but Wheelersburg pushed its lead back to a 4-1 margin in the top half of the second frame on a solo home run to right field by Estep, the team's three-hole hitter, and then increased its lead to a 5-1 margin in the sixth inning off of a home run by Makenzie Mullins who took the first pitch of the sixth frame out of the ballpark.
Between Wheelersburg's one-through-six hitters, the Lady Pirates went 7-for-21 with two walks, four RBI and five runs scored in the contest.
"I thought that the top of our order did extremely well," Ruby said. "Even their outs were solid outs. The ball was right at people. We've got some younger kids later in the lineup that'll get better with this experience, and they'll start converting those at-bats."
Wheelersburg was also helped by a tremendous effort from freshman pitcher Rylan Butcher, who played beyond her years inside the circle for the Lady Pirates in the contest.
In just her second contest out for Wheelersburg, Butcher followed up a complete game three-hit shutout against Coal Grove, one in where she had 11 strikeouts and just one walk in a 16-0 win, by throwing another complete game against Kenton Ridge.
Butcher struck out seven batters as the true freshman, despite facing several pressure situations throughout Saturday's contest, never appeared rattled during the affair. No. 14 struck out the side in the sixth inning of work to boot.
"Rylan never gets rattled," Ruby said. "She's got tremendous upside. We didn't really know how she would do in a big game (like Kenton Ridge) with it being her second-ever varsity game as a freshman, but she showed us what she's made of. She's a young lady that is just going to get better. She's just going to keep getting better. Looking forward to seeing her progression."
Wheelersburg's defense also played extremely well around Butcher through the first six innings of action as well.
In one instance, fellow freshman Lainey Skeenes made a terrific catch on a hard liner in the first inning, resulting in a double play that halted Kenton Ridge's opening inning spurt.
In another, a hard-hit groundball that deflected off of Mullins' foot in the fifth inning was picked up off of the deflection by Gleim, and then fired over to first base on the hop for an incredible 5-6-3 play that saved a baserunner.
And earlier in the fifth inning, Wheelersburg got an excellent defensive play from Mullins, who snagged a ball above the dugout to record an out in the inning.
Those key defensive plays gave the Lady Pirates a 5-1 advantage, all while starting four freshmen — Butcher, Libby Allen, Jace Mitchell, and Lainey Skeenes — in their second-ever varsity contest.
"They're growing up, trial by fire," Ruby said. "But they're talented. You come see us by the end of the year, and you're going to see a big difference."
Unfortunately for Wheelersburg, a pair of errors in the seventh inning led to three runs coming across for Kenton Ridge — helping the Lady Cougars close to within 5-4 with a runner on third base and nobody out in the frame. Then, following a walk, Kenton Ridge's Ivee Rastatter swatted a three-run homer to win the game for the Lady Cougars.
"We opened the door," Ruby said. "We talk about that a lot. There's three outs in a half-inning, and you've got to get those, especially against good teams. We gave (Kenton Ridge) more than three outs in the seventh inning. We had two easy ones, and when you open the door for a good team, they're going to take advantage of it. They walked through the door and took care of business."
Despite the setback, Wheelersburg (1-1) scored more runners on Kenton Ridge — a team that finished 25th nationally in 2025 after posting its 32-0 record — than anybody else has had all season.
Gleim (1-for-2, two walks, home run, RBI, run scored), Jennings (1-for-4, home run, RBI, run scored), Estep (2-for-4, home run, RBI, two runs scored), Drake (2-for-4) and Mullins (1-for-3, home run, RBI, run scored) led the offensive output for the Lady Pirates in the contest.
(Game 2) Kenton Ridge 15, Notre Dame 4 (F/6)
In the second contest of the evening, the Notre Dame Titans' softball program posted nine hits and nabbed four runs, but couldn't outslug Kenton Ridge in a 15-4 setback at Notre Dame High School.
Notre Dame's Kate Entler enjoyed a strong performance, nabbing a hard-hit single to center field in the first inning and a leadoff single in the fourth frame as well. Kennedy Lyon added in a third inning single while Lyndsey Schaefer's fourth inning double put two runners in scoring position for Notre Dame in the fourth frame of action.
Down 8-0 in the fifth inning of play, back-to-back singles by Lyon and Soard were followed by a hit batter, which loaded the bases for Entler. The standout infielder followed with a grand slam — a no-doubter to left field that had similar exit velocity and distance on it to the one that Gleim hit in the first inning — to pull Notre Dame within 8-4 after five innings of work.
However, Kenton Ridge answered with seven unanswered runs to put the contest away.
Entler ultimately went 3-for-3 with a home run, four RBI and a run scored while Lyon also enjoyed a multi-hit performance by going 2-for-2 in the contest. Schaefer (1-for-3, double), Ava Rush (1-for-3), Alayla Soard (1-for-4) and Candace Oudeh (1-for-1) all reached the hit column for Notre Dame.
Kenton Ridge — who holds massive Portsmouth connections itself through two of its players — got major contributions from JJ Davis as well as Brenna Fyffe in the contest.
Davis, the daughter of 2020 SSU Athletics Hall of Famer and former Shawnee State volleyball and women's basketball athlete Mandy Goin-Davis, went 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored against Wheelersburg and 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored against Notre Dame.
Fyffe, who is the daughter of former softball player in 2011 SSU Athletics Hall of Famer Brandy Orsborne Fyffe as well as her husband, former Shawnee State baseball player Chad Fyffe, went 1-for-4 with a triple, two RBI and a run scored against Wheelersburg and 1-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and a run scored against Kenton Ridge.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame (2-1) plays Greenup County (4-2) at 6 p.m. Monday evening, while Wheelersburg (1-1) travels to Circleville Tuesday evening for a 5 p.m. contest.
Continue reading...
With both, you'll get programs that are willing to take on the best of the best around — and live with the results regardless of how they go down, knowing that they both played highly-competitive competition.
Leading 5-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning of work, the Wheelersburg Pirates' softball program had OHSAA Division IV State Champion Kenton Ridge on the ropes, but the Lady Cougars were able to rally with a six-run seventh to defeat the Lady Pirates, 7-5, in a neutral-site contest that was held at Notre Dame High School in Portsmouth. Notre Dame then suffered a 15-4 loss to Kenton Ridge later in the day in a pair of terrific softball clashes that were held as part of the Champions Classic Saturday at Notre Dame High School.
(Game 1) Kenton Ridge 7, Wheelersburg 5
In the opening contest of the day, Teresa Ruby's group started out Saturday's opener with a bang.
On the second pitch of the game, Wheelersburg senior Mylee Gleim rocketed a no doubt homer to left field that went 235 feet and cleared the left field wall with ease.
Two pitches later, Mati Jennings added in an opposite field home run of her own — and just four pitches into Saturday's affair between two of the best teams in the state, Wheelersburg held a 2-0 lead over Kenton Ridge.
The Lady Pirates then added in a third run later in the frame — as singles by Ava Estep and Jalynn Drake resulted in a double steal later in the inning, giving Wheelersburg a 3-0 lead after the opening frame of action.
Kenton Ridge got a run back later in the opening inning on an RBI single by JJ Davis, but Wheelersburg pushed its lead back to a 4-1 margin in the top half of the second frame on a solo home run to right field by Estep, the team's three-hole hitter, and then increased its lead to a 5-1 margin in the sixth inning off of a home run by Makenzie Mullins who took the first pitch of the sixth frame out of the ballpark.
Between Wheelersburg's one-through-six hitters, the Lady Pirates went 7-for-21 with two walks, four RBI and five runs scored in the contest.
"I thought that the top of our order did extremely well," Ruby said. "Even their outs were solid outs. The ball was right at people. We've got some younger kids later in the lineup that'll get better with this experience, and they'll start converting those at-bats."
Wheelersburg was also helped by a tremendous effort from freshman pitcher Rylan Butcher, who played beyond her years inside the circle for the Lady Pirates in the contest.
In just her second contest out for Wheelersburg, Butcher followed up a complete game three-hit shutout against Coal Grove, one in where she had 11 strikeouts and just one walk in a 16-0 win, by throwing another complete game against Kenton Ridge.
Butcher struck out seven batters as the true freshman, despite facing several pressure situations throughout Saturday's contest, never appeared rattled during the affair. No. 14 struck out the side in the sixth inning of work to boot.
"Rylan never gets rattled," Ruby said. "She's got tremendous upside. We didn't really know how she would do in a big game (like Kenton Ridge) with it being her second-ever varsity game as a freshman, but she showed us what she's made of. She's a young lady that is just going to get better. She's just going to keep getting better. Looking forward to seeing her progression."
Wheelersburg's defense also played extremely well around Butcher through the first six innings of action as well.
In one instance, fellow freshman Lainey Skeenes made a terrific catch on a hard liner in the first inning, resulting in a double play that halted Kenton Ridge's opening inning spurt.
In another, a hard-hit groundball that deflected off of Mullins' foot in the fifth inning was picked up off of the deflection by Gleim, and then fired over to first base on the hop for an incredible 5-6-3 play that saved a baserunner.
And earlier in the fifth inning, Wheelersburg got an excellent defensive play from Mullins, who snagged a ball above the dugout to record an out in the inning.
Those key defensive plays gave the Lady Pirates a 5-1 advantage, all while starting four freshmen — Butcher, Libby Allen, Jace Mitchell, and Lainey Skeenes — in their second-ever varsity contest.
"They're growing up, trial by fire," Ruby said. "But they're talented. You come see us by the end of the year, and you're going to see a big difference."
Unfortunately for Wheelersburg, a pair of errors in the seventh inning led to three runs coming across for Kenton Ridge — helping the Lady Cougars close to within 5-4 with a runner on third base and nobody out in the frame. Then, following a walk, Kenton Ridge's Ivee Rastatter swatted a three-run homer to win the game for the Lady Cougars.
"We opened the door," Ruby said. "We talk about that a lot. There's three outs in a half-inning, and you've got to get those, especially against good teams. We gave (Kenton Ridge) more than three outs in the seventh inning. We had two easy ones, and when you open the door for a good team, they're going to take advantage of it. They walked through the door and took care of business."
Despite the setback, Wheelersburg (1-1) scored more runners on Kenton Ridge — a team that finished 25th nationally in 2025 after posting its 32-0 record — than anybody else has had all season.
Gleim (1-for-2, two walks, home run, RBI, run scored), Jennings (1-for-4, home run, RBI, run scored), Estep (2-for-4, home run, RBI, two runs scored), Drake (2-for-4) and Mullins (1-for-3, home run, RBI, run scored) led the offensive output for the Lady Pirates in the contest.
(Game 2) Kenton Ridge 15, Notre Dame 4 (F/6)
In the second contest of the evening, the Notre Dame Titans' softball program posted nine hits and nabbed four runs, but couldn't outslug Kenton Ridge in a 15-4 setback at Notre Dame High School.
Notre Dame's Kate Entler enjoyed a strong performance, nabbing a hard-hit single to center field in the first inning and a leadoff single in the fourth frame as well. Kennedy Lyon added in a third inning single while Lyndsey Schaefer's fourth inning double put two runners in scoring position for Notre Dame in the fourth frame of action.
Down 8-0 in the fifth inning of play, back-to-back singles by Lyon and Soard were followed by a hit batter, which loaded the bases for Entler. The standout infielder followed with a grand slam — a no-doubter to left field that had similar exit velocity and distance on it to the one that Gleim hit in the first inning — to pull Notre Dame within 8-4 after five innings of work.
However, Kenton Ridge answered with seven unanswered runs to put the contest away.
Entler ultimately went 3-for-3 with a home run, four RBI and a run scored while Lyon also enjoyed a multi-hit performance by going 2-for-2 in the contest. Schaefer (1-for-3, double), Ava Rush (1-for-3), Alayla Soard (1-for-4) and Candace Oudeh (1-for-1) all reached the hit column for Notre Dame.
Kenton Ridge — who holds massive Portsmouth connections itself through two of its players — got major contributions from JJ Davis as well as Brenna Fyffe in the contest.
Davis, the daughter of 2020 SSU Athletics Hall of Famer and former Shawnee State volleyball and women's basketball athlete Mandy Goin-Davis, went 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored against Wheelersburg and 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored against Notre Dame.
Fyffe, who is the daughter of former softball player in 2011 SSU Athletics Hall of Famer Brandy Orsborne Fyffe as well as her husband, former Shawnee State baseball player Chad Fyffe, went 1-for-4 with a triple, two RBI and a run scored against Wheelersburg and 1-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and a run scored against Kenton Ridge.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame (2-1) plays Greenup County (4-2) at 6 p.m. Monday evening, while Wheelersburg (1-1) travels to Circleville Tuesday evening for a 5 p.m. contest.
Continue reading...
