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HOLMES TOWNSHIP - It was the performance Wynford coach Chelsea Rice had waited all spring for.
Hosting county rival Buckeye Central in a Division VI sectional championship Tuesday night, the two-seeded Royals had their best offensive output of the spring in an 18-4 win over the seven-seeded Buckettes.
"Finally, the bats are coming along," Rice said. "(It's) actually a repeat of last year. So if we do that, I'm OK ... I won't be mad about the first half of the year."
Two days shy of a year ago Wynford embarked on a historic postseason run winning the program's first sectional title since 2008, first district championship ever — coincidentally against the Buckettes — and ending with a regional appearance. Over the course of their three postseason wins the Royals scored 10, 19, and 11 runs while allowing none until the 3-2 loss in regionals.
It helped seeing a familiar foe in Buckeye Central who they had previously beaten 6-1 and 13-7 in the regular season.
"We know how to play them, we know both pictures," Rice said. "(AJ Jury's) a good pitcher and (Maya) Metzger is a good pitcher, but we talked about it all week that we just had to hit. We've been in this slump all year, I'm glad we're finally heading (out of it). And we never settled being up ... we just kept hitting and that's all I want for the rest of the tournament."
Wynford was able to get to Metzger early batting through the order in the first inning scoring five runs along the way. Jury replaced her for the second inning and the Royals sent 14 batters up tacking up on additional nine runs for a 14-0 lead after two. Metzger returned for the final three innings as the teams each scored four runs, but Wynford's cushion was more than enough to hold on.
Buckeye Central did show fight up until the very end despite two quick outs in the fifth. Five consecutive singles kept Wynford on its toes, but Rylee Robinson was able to get a groundout to second to end the game with the bases loaded.
"One thing about this team is no matter what we get down, they always try to battle back," Buckeye Central coach Todd Messmer said. "Some teams give up, but we don't ... we're going to still hit the ball and we're gonna do whatever we can to try to score.
"You can't get in a deficit against a team like that because it's hard to come back. Our bats started waking up toward the end, but that was a little too late."
Leah Fields was 3-for-3 with a stolen base, Phoebe Rafferty matched her adding a run and two RBIs as well. Sophie West had two hits, two runs, one RBI, one stolen base; AJ Jury one hit, one run, one stolen bases; Cierra Schneider and Savannah Pace a hit apiece.
It marked the final tournament game for a slew of seniors that include Jury, Schneider, Pace, Metzger, and Olivia Bishop.
"I feel bad for the seniors going out," Messmer said of the disappointing season. "But this has been a combination of lack of hitting sometimes and lack of pitching other times.
"I'm going to miss them all. I've had them all for four years and they've all they given everything to this program. They work hard every day, they show up, and they lead — I can't say enough about them."
Wynford was led by Robinson's 10 strikeouts in the circle and a 3-for-3, two-run, three-RBI performance on offense. Addison Sebring was 4-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs including an inside-the-park home run; Kate McGuire, Alivia Ritzler, Briley Hildreth, Ellie Nash, and Erin Wolfe all had two hits apiece with Wolfe, Ritzler, Hildreth driving in a pair of runs and McGuire scoring four of her own.
The Royals shift their focus to a district semifinal clash with three-seed South Central who took down Bucyrus 11-1, that game is slated for next Tuesday at Shelby High School with an approximate first pitch time of 5:30 p.m.
"I might get to keep my job," Rice laughed. "We've had a motto since day one when I came on three years ago, I'll take the losses as a coach and the wins are theirs. They play hard, even when we mess up and make an error, we bound back. They know if we made an error on defense then we gotta hit, if we're not getting some hits then you better make all the throws you can ... as long as you're making plays and we're giving 100%, I'll be happy at the end of the day."
And she'll be even happier if the Royals keep this up.
"They all focused on their bats tonight," Rice said. "We had Erin, who usually plays third base, at DH because she's been so hot with the bat the last three games. I told them you just gotta hit and we have to score, that's how we'll get up and the defense will do the rest. Rylee will pitch, Lily (Laipply) will make plays, Briley will catch balls in the outfield — we have that under control."
[email protected] | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Wynford softball steamrolls Buckeye Central in sectional championship
Continue reading...
Hosting county rival Buckeye Central in a Division VI sectional championship Tuesday night, the two-seeded Royals had their best offensive output of the spring in an 18-4 win over the seven-seeded Buckettes.
"Finally, the bats are coming along," Rice said. "(It's) actually a repeat of last year. So if we do that, I'm OK ... I won't be mad about the first half of the year."
Two days shy of a year ago Wynford embarked on a historic postseason run winning the program's first sectional title since 2008, first district championship ever — coincidentally against the Buckettes — and ending with a regional appearance. Over the course of their three postseason wins the Royals scored 10, 19, and 11 runs while allowing none until the 3-2 loss in regionals.
It helped seeing a familiar foe in Buckeye Central who they had previously beaten 6-1 and 13-7 in the regular season.
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"We know how to play them, we know both pictures," Rice said. "(AJ Jury's) a good pitcher and (Maya) Metzger is a good pitcher, but we talked about it all week that we just had to hit. We've been in this slump all year, I'm glad we're finally heading (out of it). And we never settled being up ... we just kept hitting and that's all I want for the rest of the tournament."
Wynford was able to get to Metzger early batting through the order in the first inning scoring five runs along the way. Jury replaced her for the second inning and the Royals sent 14 batters up tacking up on additional nine runs for a 14-0 lead after two. Metzger returned for the final three innings as the teams each scored four runs, but Wynford's cushion was more than enough to hold on.
Buckeye Central did show fight up until the very end despite two quick outs in the fifth. Five consecutive singles kept Wynford on its toes, but Rylee Robinson was able to get a groundout to second to end the game with the bases loaded.
"One thing about this team is no matter what we get down, they always try to battle back," Buckeye Central coach Todd Messmer said. "Some teams give up, but we don't ... we're going to still hit the ball and we're gonna do whatever we can to try to score.
"You can't get in a deficit against a team like that because it's hard to come back. Our bats started waking up toward the end, but that was a little too late."
Leah Fields was 3-for-3 with a stolen base, Phoebe Rafferty matched her adding a run and two RBIs as well. Sophie West had two hits, two runs, one RBI, one stolen base; AJ Jury one hit, one run, one stolen bases; Cierra Schneider and Savannah Pace a hit apiece.
You must be registered for see images attach
It marked the final tournament game for a slew of seniors that include Jury, Schneider, Pace, Metzger, and Olivia Bishop.
"I feel bad for the seniors going out," Messmer said of the disappointing season. "But this has been a combination of lack of hitting sometimes and lack of pitching other times.
"I'm going to miss them all. I've had them all for four years and they've all they given everything to this program. They work hard every day, they show up, and they lead — I can't say enough about them."
Wynford was led by Robinson's 10 strikeouts in the circle and a 3-for-3, two-run, three-RBI performance on offense. Addison Sebring was 4-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs including an inside-the-park home run; Kate McGuire, Alivia Ritzler, Briley Hildreth, Ellie Nash, and Erin Wolfe all had two hits apiece with Wolfe, Ritzler, Hildreth driving in a pair of runs and McGuire scoring four of her own.
You must be registered for see images attach
The Royals shift their focus to a district semifinal clash with three-seed South Central who took down Bucyrus 11-1, that game is slated for next Tuesday at Shelby High School with an approximate first pitch time of 5:30 p.m.
"I might get to keep my job," Rice laughed. "We've had a motto since day one when I came on three years ago, I'll take the losses as a coach and the wins are theirs. They play hard, even when we mess up and make an error, we bound back. They know if we made an error on defense then we gotta hit, if we're not getting some hits then you better make all the throws you can ... as long as you're making plays and we're giving 100%, I'll be happy at the end of the day."
And she'll be even happier if the Royals keep this up.
"They all focused on their bats tonight," Rice said. "We had Erin, who usually plays third base, at DH because she's been so hot with the bat the last three games. I told them you just gotta hit and we have to score, that's how we'll get up and the defense will do the rest. Rylee will pitch, Lily (Laipply) will make plays, Briley will catch balls in the outfield — we have that under control."
[email protected] | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Wynford softball steamrolls Buckeye Central in sectional championship
Continue reading...
