North Union’s Zoe Wedding makes the stretch for a throw at first base during a Division II tournament game at Bloom-Carroll. The Lady Cats lost, 1-0.
(Photo submitted)
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The end of a sports season can come pretty quickly, especially during tournament time.
It is even more heart-breaking when it comes with the suddenness of a walk-off hit.
That was the end-of-the-year story for the ninth-seeded North Union softball team on Wednesday as it suffered a 1-0 loss at No. 5 Bloom-Carroll in Division II sectional final play.
Ady Luke’s line-drive single to right scored Allie Martin in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The hit ended an outstanding pitching duel between the Lady Cats’ senior Reese DeCamp and her Lady Bulldog counterpart, sophomore Maddi Walters.
DeCamp pitched out of several jams before the fateful seventh inning.
She gave up six hits, struck out four and walked one.
In each of the first three innings, DeCamp got the final out with runners in scoring position. Each time, she got help from the defense, which was stellar the entire game.
Walters limited North Union to just two hits, struck out 12 and walked three.
Ryleigh Rasey had a triple and Rylee Fox slapped a single for the Lady Cats’ two hits.
“We were hitting the ball, but they weren’t line drives,” senior outfielder Emma Padovano said. “We brought the defense and pitching, just not enough offense.”
“It is tough losing on a walk-off,” said second baseman Zoe Wedding, also a senior. “We played great defense, but they hit a gap shot that got them their run.”
It was Wedding’s first high school softball season and she got almost everything she wanted from it.
“I wanted to play hard and have fun,” she said. “Having confidence at the plate was probably the hardest thing.”
Joining Wedding, Padovano and DeCamp for their final game as a Lady Cat were Rasey and Savannah Queen.
North Union’s best chance to score came in the top of the sixth inning.
With two out, Kennedy Harrah reached base on an error.
That was followed by walks to DeCamp and Kale Keigley.
Walters, however, was able to get a strike out for the third out.
North Union’s Pat Grove could not have been more proud of his team in his first year as head coach.
“This is what I expected this game would be and it played out as I thought it would,” Grove said. “Unfortunately, we just weren’t the one on top. I was not disappointed how we played.”
The final count of wins was not quite what was hoped for, but Grove said the Lady Cats were a much different team at the end of the year than what started the season.
“I feel we were a better team than our record shows,” Grove said. “Your record can tell a story, but it is not always that cut and dried.
“We were a much better team at the end than we were at the beginning,” he said.
They went through a rough start, losing three of the first four games, but then won six straight.
Over the next few weeks, there were hits and misses.
The Lady Cats finished the regular season with three consecutive wins and one tournament victory.
The final record was 14-14.
NU 000 000 0—0-2-1
BC 000 000 1—1-6-1