Marysville third baseman Leah Potter, right, prepares to slap the tag on a sliding Hilliard Davidson base runner on Wednesday. The Lady Monarchs beat the Wildcats, 6-4, in a weather-shortened game. In doing so, MHS claimed the outright Ohio Capital Conference Central Division championship.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Abby Gindlesberger was the winning pitcher on Wednesday when Marysville’s varsity softball team defeated Hilliard Davidson.
Mother Nature, though, could be credited with the save when MHS scored a 6-4 victory and claimed its second consecutive outright Ohio Capital Conference Central Division championship.
The contest was shortened to 6 2/3 innings when inclement weather rolled into the area.
The home squad took a 6-3 lead into the visitors’ portion of the seventh.
The Wildcats scored again and had two runners on base with two out when the umpiring crew sent everyone to their respective dugouts due to thunder.
As everyone waited for the 30-minute time limit to elapse before play could be resumed, the rain began to pour. That turned Marysville’s diamond into a sloppy mess.
Ohio High School Athletic Association rules state that a baseball or softball game is officially in the books when it surpasses five of its seven innings.
Wednesday’s contest met that requirement before the weather turned sour.
The umpiring crew explained to coaches from both teams that they were concerned whether the game needed to be completed for conference championship considerations.
It really didn’t.
A quick phone call revealed that third-place Dublin Coffman was able to beat second-place Upper Arlington by a 13-2 count on Wednesday.
Both of those teams finished tied for runner-up status with three divisional losses in 10 games.
The Lady Monarchs, with only one OCC loss going into the Davidson contest, could not be tied for the crown.
Armed with that knowledge, the umpires ruled the game was officially over.
Marysville scored single runs in each of the first two innings against Davidson pitcher Angel DeJesus.
With one down in the first, Hanna Moffett singled and stole second.
She scored with two out on a Wildcat fielding miscue.
MHS went on top 2-0 in the home half of the second.
With two out, Jewely Livingston singled and scored on Jaynn Young’s double.
Marysville (18-6 overall) opened up what appeared to be a comfortable lead with four runs in the third.
Moffett drilled a leadoff triple and scored on Ashley Dunn’s base hit.
Gindlesberger helped herself at the plate with a base hit. She was replaced by courtesy runner Lexi Williams.
A groundball out put MHS runners on second and third.
DeJesus then juiced the sacks when she walked Sydney Wade.
Tayler Clabaugh and Livingston followed with RBI singles.
The final run of the inning came with two out on Emily Daniel’s base hit.
The Wildcats escaped further trouble by getting the third out on a rundown between third base and home.
Davidson slowly chipped away at Marysville’s lead, scoring single runs during each of the fourth, fifth and sixth.
Abby Hennessy put the visitors’ first run on the board in the fourth with a two-out solo homer that bounced off the MHS scoreboard.
Gindlesberger ended the inning by coaxing a fly ball out.
The freshman hurler ran into some control problems and walked the first two batters – Kim Graham and Sara Rupert – in the fifth.
Both moved into scoring position on Rachel Korbini’s sacrifice bunt.
A fielder’s choice out off Cary Champion’s bat drove in the run that cut Davidson’s deficit to 6-2.
MHS escaped additional difficulties by completing a double play at third base after Champion was out at first. A Davidson runner tried for third, but was out.
The Wildcats whittled Marysville’s advantage in half during the sixth.
Cary Keidel and Abby Mullins both singled to lead off the inning.
Gindlesberger put a strikeout in the book, but yielded an RBI single to Hennessy.
Marysville notched the second out on a fielder’s choice and got out of further trouble when catcher Aggie Livingston caught a foul ball behind the plate.
As the sky quickly darkened, DeJesus put the Lady Monarchs down in order during the home half of the sixth.
Gindlesberger gave up a lead-off single to Rupert to begin the top of the seventh.
The righty hurler got an out on a fielder’s choice, but a wild pitch sent Rupert to third.
Rupert placed Davidson’s fourth run in the book when Marysville got the second out on another fielder’s choice.
Gindlesberger issued a walk to Keidel and at that point, MHS head coach Jennifer Segner-Maxwell decided to make a pitching change.
“Abby started to run out of gas,” said the coach. “She’s pitched in three games this week (due to lefty Izzy Shroyer’s back and arm problems) and Abby’s arm has also been bothering her.”
Livingston, who just recently returned to the lineup after a foot injury, hit a Davidson batter to put two runners on board with two down.
At that point, thunder rumbled and both teams left the field.
The rain came down so hard that the umpires declared the game officially over.
Gindlesberger yielded seven hits, struck out one and walked four.
DeJesus was tagged for 11 hits. She did not strike out a batter and issued a pair of free passes.
The Lady Monarchs were slated to host Teays Valley today.
The Vikings, though, have to play a rescheduled conference game this afternoon.
They will travel to Marysville for a non-conference contest on Thursday, May 9.
MHS will play a non-conference game at Jonathan Alder on Tuesday for their next action.
HD 000 111 1-4 7 1
MHS 114 000 x-6 11 0
WP: Gindlesberger
LP: DeJesus
The Marysville JV softball team defeated Hilliard Davidson, 15-5, also in a rain-shortened game.
Bethany Bates went the distance in the pitching circle for the Monarchs and yielded five hits.
Jillian Smith and Kaitlyn Lowry each had three hits for MHS.
Bre Ortman, Cassie Van Dyke, and Carly Connolly each finished with two.