GREENVILLE- It took the State’s No. 2 DIII-ranked Lady Wave four innings at the plate to earn the program’s 900th victory with a 13-0 MVL run rule win over the visiting West Carrollton Lady Pirates.
“Today is a great day for Lady Wave Softball,” said Greenville Hall of Fame coach Jerrod Newland. “I knew coming into this year, eventually, we would get to it.”
With the Monday night win at Lady Wave Stadium, Greenville becomes the fifth team in Ohio to reach 900 program wins. The Lady Wave joins LaGrange Keystone, North Canton Hoover, Warren Champion, and Strasburg-Franklin.
“It’s a group of perennial softball schools, great programs and great things,” Newland stated. “To be included in that mix is just unbelievable. It’s long before us and it will be long after us – it’s Greenville Softball. They don’t play for the name on the back, they play for the name on the front, and 38 years ago, they started this crazy monster, and here we are at team 38 and 900 wins. “It’s pretty awesome, just an honor to be a part of it.”
The Lady Wave grabbed a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff single by Kylar Arnett, Zoey Burns reaching by way of a hit by pitch, and an Ella Oswalt RBI single to center. A steal of second by pinch runner Jaelyn Christman set up a run-scoring ground out off the bat of Lizzie Shaffer, and a Kendall Cromwell RBI single to left accounted for the first inning runs.
Greenville plated two runs in the bottom of the second after two outs with an Arnett double, Burns reached on the lone error of the night, setting up an Oswalt 2-run single to left and a 5-0 Lady Wave lead with two innings in the book.
The Lady Wave used a third-inning leadoff Leah Force double to left, an RBI double off the bat of Lily Brubaker, and a run-producing Arnett double to center, upping Greenville’s lead to 7-0 after three.
Greenville put the game away in the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff Brianna Klosterman single, a Force RBI double, and a 2-run single off the bat of Brubaker. Lady Wave freshman Caleigh Stebbins got her first varsity hit legging out an infield single followed with a 2-run double off the bat of Arnett, her third double of the night, and a Burns RBI sacrifice fly to deep center gave the home team a 13-0 lead that would be the final score of the night earning the Lady Wave their 900th program win.
“It’s history, so proud of it and can’t wait to see where we’re going and more milestones ahead,” Coach Newland said, “but today is a great day for Lady Wave Softball.”
LWSB sophomore Lizzy Shaffer struck out the side in the top of the fifth, bringing an early end to the MVL game.
Greenville senior Zoey Burns picked up the win, allowing no runs over 3.0 innings, one hit, no walks, while striking out six. Shaffer pitched 2-0 innings of shutout ball in relief, allowing no hits, one walk, and five strikeouts.
Greenville pounded out 16 hits and played error-free ball in the field. The Lady Pirates had one hit and an error.
Arnett paced the Lady Wave at the plate, going 4-4, including three doubles, 3 RBIs, and two runs scored. Lily Brubaker went 2-3, including a double, 3 RBIs, one run; Force 2-3, both doubles, 1 RBI, two runs; Oswalt 2-2, 3 RBIs; Shaffer 1-4, a double, 1 RBI; Rielynn Davidson 1-3, 1 run; Stebbins 1-1, 1 run; Kendall Cromwell 1-2, 1 RBI; Klosterman 1-1, 3 runs; Morgan Thompson 1-1; Burns HBP, 1 RBI; Reese Stewart 1 run; Rylie Pfledderer 1 run; Jaelyn Christman 1 run.
“Love the community, great crowd today for the home game,” Newland concluded. “Beautiful field, beautiful everything, and happy to move to 16-1 on this great year.”
With the conference win, Greenville moves to 16-1 overall and 12-0 in MVL play.
BOX SCORE:
123 456 7 R H E
000 00X X 0 1 1 West Carrollton
322 6XX X 13 16 0 Greenville
