Jonathan Alder shortstop Emily Walker (left) looks to the umpire for the call on this Big Walnut stolen base last Friday. The Lady Pioneers will face Kenton Ridge in the Division II regional semifinals on Wednesday at Mason High School.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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A pair of softball teams that are very familiar with each other will tangle in the Division II regional semifinals on Wednesday.
The Lady Pioneers of Jonathan Alder will make the trek to Mason High School, where they will face Springfield Kenton Ridge.
The first pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 5 p.m.
Alder and Kenton Ridge are both members of the Central Buckeye Conference.
As such, they faced each other twice during the regular season, with both of those extra-inning games ending up with a 1-1 split.
The Cougars won, 4-3, during the first game when JA committed an error in the ninth inning.
The second game, a couple of weeks later, saw the Lady Pioneers rally from a 6-2 deficit with four runs in the seventh.
They went on to win during an extra frame.
Alder (19-6) won a district championship on Friday by clubbing Big Walnut, 20-3.
Kenton Ridge (23-1), the second-ranked D-II team in the state, had to wait until Sunday evening (due to inclement weather on Friday and Saturday) to claim its district title.
The Cougars did so by beating Monroe High School by a 6-2 margin.
“We know that Kenton Ridge is a very solid team,” said Lady Pioneer head coach Dave McGrew. “They hit the ball very well, they’ve got a great pitcher in Carly Turner and their catcher is solid.”
One of the Cougars’ top hitters is Jordan Rucker, who blasted a two-run triple against Monroe.
Turner fanned nine batters during the district championship game.
She will be pitted in the circle against JA senior Katelynn Perkins, who allowed just four hits against the Golden Eagles on Friday.
Perkins struck out five and did not walk a Big Walnut batter.
“We hit Turner fairly well both times we played them during the regular season,” said McGrew. “I think we can play both small ball or hit for power against them if we need to do either.”
While McGrew is confident in his batting order that includes solid sticks from Lindsey Potter, Jillian Jaske, Perkins and Cierra Clark, he knows that defense would very well be a deciding factor.
“We’ve improved our defense as the season has progressed,” said McGrew. “However, we still haven’t been able to put together a fully clean game.
“We can’t afford to make defensive mistakes on Wednesday.”
McGrew said the Lady Pioneers have gotten better with their first steps and angles on the ball from their defensive positions.
“That’s improved over the past few weeks since we’ve been able to get in some practice time outdoors,” he said, adding that it was difficult to do that earlier in the season with the inclement weather.
McGrew said if you were to compare Alder and Kenton Ridge position-by-position, it might come down to a draw.
However, he’s banking on the team that wears the Red and Black.
“I’ll take my team,” he said. “I’ll give us a slight edge.”