TROY — The Greenville Lady Wave left no doubt in the Miami Valley League championship race, securing their sixth consecutive MVL conference title with a commanding 6-0 win over the Troy Lady Trojans on Monday night.
Behind another dominant performance from sophomore ace Ella Oswalt, Greenville completed a two-game sweep of previously undefeated Troy, shutting out the Lady Trojans in back-to-back games and silencing one of the league’s most potent offenses.
Oswalt followed up a 16-strikeout no-hitter in the series opener with a one-hit, nine-strikeout shutout on Troy’s home field, finishing the two-game stretch with 25 strikeouts while allowing just one hit and no runs.
“Great day for Lady Wave Softball,” said Greenville coach Jerrod Newland. “Proud of the kids getting on the bus coming over to Troy, awesome atmosphere, awesome teams, both teams are going to Akron, we’re going in DIII, they’re going in DII … great team, great seniors, great coach, but the better team won.”
Greenville (22-1, 16-0 MVL) got on the board at the top of the third inning after Lily Brubaker drew a leadoff walk. Kara Blumenstock followed with a sacrifice bunt, and Brubaker made a heads-up play, advancing from first to third on a Troy mental mistake.
With two outs, Leah Force put the ball in play with a grounder to shortstop. A Troy error allowed Brubaker to score, and Force came all the way around on the miscue, giving Greenville a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third.
“She bunted the ball, and I was rounding, and I saw third was open, and I thought, I gotta go, I gotta get there,” said Brubaker of going from first to third on a bunt. “They are routine plays, we practice every day, I know what I am doing, I am confident in my skills.”
The bottom of the lineup proved pivotal, with Brubaker, Kara Blumenstock, and Hallee Fourman combining for four hits, three runs scored, and three RBIs.
“She dropped two down,” Newland said of Blumenstock’s execution at the plate. “She made two great plays, just a stud player of the game. We play team softball, we bunt the ball, we move people around, we play defense, a great job out of her, her plays stood out.”
Newland also praised freshman Hallee Fourman’s continued development.
“She’s starting to get her legs under her, getting in softball shape in about game 15, 20,” Newland said. “She went in the lineup a couple of weeks ago. She’s a stud, two big hits tonight and she’s going to be a great ball player, we have a lot of good kids.”
Despite the strong offensive showing, the story again centered on Oswalt’s dominance in the circle.
“Six nothing Greenville — I guess she threw an A-minus game,” Newland said when asked by a reporter the difference from the no-hitter to the 1-hitter. “They had two base runners, they had one hit and K’d nine. She had an A-minus game, and they didn’t score … 14 innings and 24 strikeouts and one hit … they were hitting .600 coming into this series.”
“Ella shut them out for 14 innings,” Newland added. “If she throws a C game, we’re going to win.”
Greenville’s approach at the plate reflected postseason-style execution, with multiple sacrifice bunts setting up scoring opportunities.
“That’s postseason softball,” Newland said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re our number four hitter, sacrifice bunt our best hitter on the team. It doesn’t matter what your name is or where you’re at, we’re doing the thing for the name on the front… that is fundamental softball, that is team softball, and that is Lady Wave Softball, it’s every day.”
Oswalt credited her teammates for the shutout performance.
“Today my team backed me up so much,” Oswalt said. “Only getting one hit for Kara and me playing amazing on the field, and everyone doing what they needed to do, helped us out a ton. I knew going in that these hitters had seen me three or four times throughout the lineup, and I knew I had to trust my defense. My defense did their job, and everyone in the dugout did their job today.”
“It’s fun that you never know what is going to happen,” Oswalt added. “You never know who’s going to have to bunt, you never know who’s going to hit a double off the fence… it makes the game fun, it makes the game loose, it makes the game quick.”
Blumenstock delivered both at the plate and in the field, executing two key bunts and making a highlight-reel diving catch in right field.
“We practice it all the time,” Blumenstock said. “This was my first one this year. You have to have confidence in yourself to put it down… it just gets easier.”
“I saw it coming at me, and I thought it was going to drop, but it just kept carrying and then I dove and caught it,” she said of her diving catch in right.
Blumenstock also credited her father for helping her development.
“I do all the time,” she said of listening to advice from her father. “I really like it because it gives me a lot of confidence, and he helps me with small things I need to work on, and it makes me a better person in general.”
Senior leadership remained a key factor in Greenville’s success.
“The freshmen and even sophomores, everybody looks up to each other, we all make each other better,” added senior Kendall Cromwell. “We are all improving on each other… I have a lot of confidence in our whole team, all 24 of us; we all work hard every day, and we get better all the time.”
With the win, Greenville extends its winning streak to 22 games while Troy falls to 21-2 (14-2 MVL). Both teams now turn their attention toward postseason play in Akron, but for the Lady Wave, the message was clear — the road to the title still runs through Greenville.
BOX SCORE:
123 456 7 R H E
002 012 1 6 5 1 Greenville
000 000 0 0 1 3 Troy
