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Wednesday's games extra-special for Lady Monarchs, not so for Fairbanks
April 30, 2009 at 1:05 pm
By TIM MILLER
Pictured left - Fairbanks’ Maddie Greenbaum slides for the bag but is called out at third base Wednesday afternoon against Riverside. The Lady Panthers dropped a 4-3 decision in eight innings during the NWCC title contest.
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Eighteen innings of softball produced mixed results for two local varsity teams on Wednesday.
A 1-0 victory over Westerville South in 10 innings kept the Marysville Lady Monarchs in the hunt for an OCC Cardinal Division title.
A few miles to the south in Milford Center, a 4-3 setback to Riverside in eight frames relegated the Fairbanks squad to second place honors in the Northwest Central Conference.
MHS-W. South
The visitors from Franklin County came to town with a spotless conference mark and a two-game lead over Marysville and Olentangy in the division.
As such, it was definitely the biggest win to date this spring for MHS and it came in dramatic fashion.
The Lady Monarchs (13-7 overall and 6-2 in the division) stranded nine runners on base, including juiced sacks in both the fourth and ninth frames.
Junior pitcher Dani Steepe, though, did her part in keeping the Warriors off the board. She scattered three hits, didn’t walk a batter and fanned 16.
“Dani did a nice job of keeping us in the game,” said coach Chris Shirer. “She does that and hopefully, we can get the hit when we need it.”
The big hit came in the home half of the tenth. Heather Hakola led off the inning by drilling a single that just skimmed over the outstretched glove of South’s shortstop.
Shelby Allmon followed with a perfect sacrifice bunt that put Hakola in scoring position.
Darik Parker then sent a shot to centerfield for extra bases that brought home Hakola and started the Lady Monarchs’ (who will host Dublin Jerome today) celebration.
The winning sequence followed to perfection Shirer’s mantra of get them on, get them over and get them in.
“We’ve been hitting the ball well lately,” he said. “We find ways to move it and drive in runs.”
On the neighboring diamond, the MHS junior varsity didn’t need as much drama in turning back South’s reserve team.
Kelsey Wirtz fanned five and did not walk a batter during Marysville’s 11-0 win in five innings. An error was all that stood between Wirtz and a perfect game.
Rachel Mullaney and Chelsea Burns combined for four hits and five RBIs as the jayvees improved to 16-0.
Varsity linescore
South 000 000 000 0-0 3 1
MHS 000 000 000 1-1 8 1
WP-Steepe. LP-Watson.
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FHS-Riverside
It might have felt like Christmas in April for the Riverside Pirates but Fairbanks coach Dan Stillings wasn’t feeling like Jolly St. Nick after the game which pitted two teams that were 5-0 in the NWCC.
“We gift-wrapped it for them,” was about all Stillings could say after four of five errors led to three unearned runs for the Pirates, who are now 13-4.
The Lady Panthers (9-7 overall) scored all of their runs in the home half of the second.
Brittany Greenbaum led off the inning with a single and went to second on an error.
Sarah Grunert walked and was replaced by courtesy runner Hannah Burnside.
A single by Maddie Greenbaum loaded the bases and Chelsea House’s base hit drove in two runs.
Laryssa Goldsberry’s fielder’s choice on a bunt then scored the final run.
Grunert looked strong for the first three innings in the circle as she allowed one harmless single during that stretch.
Things changed in the fourth when Pirate runners got on via a fielding miscue and a sharp double.
Another error scored both runs but Grunert got out of further trouble by inducing a grounder.
Grunert was again in command for the fifth and sixth frames and needed only three outs in the top of the seventh to end the game.
A walk, base hit and an error, however, allowed Riverside to score the tying run. Fairbanks made another error during the inning but a popout ended the threat of additional damage.
FHS (which will host Cardington today) went down in order in the bottom of the seventh, sending the game into an extra frame.
Grunert, who scattered four hits and had 11 punchouts, struck out the first two batters in the eighth but a double and single scored the go-ahead run for the Pirates.
A ground ball ended the inning but now, the Lady Panthers needed one run to tie and two to win.
They never came, though, as Riverside hurler Sara Emerich notched her ninth and 10th strikeouts and induced a popup in the infield to end the game.
“Three unearned runs and five errors,” said Stillings while shaking his head. “That’s why you’re not going to win games like this.”
Riverside 000 200 11-4 4 1
FHS 030 000 00-3 5 2
WP-Emerich. LP-Grunert.
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