GREENVILLE – The Lady Wave battled back to defeat the Centerville Lady Elks 2-1 in non-conference Saturday afternoon varsity softball at Lady Wave Stadium.
“Great day for Lady Wave Softball,” said Greenville coach Jerrod Newland. “Festive atmosphere, good team. When you play Division I teams, Division I players, it’s great.”
“They play a meat-cut schedule every year at the GWOC, and their non-league schedule is very fun,” Newland added. “It’s fun, a great game, a fast-paced atmosphere, a regional final-type strike zone, and a very good day today.”
The Lady Elks took advantage of a game-opening single, a steal of second, and an out to deep right on a diving catch by Kara Blumenstock, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead with one out in the top of the first. An Ella Oswalt strikeout and a groundout to Lily Brubaker at third got the Lady Wave out of the inning.
“They get their first batter on, she stole second and scored on a deep fly to right, and that was it for the day,” said Newland.
The Lady Wave went down in order in the bottom of the first, and what proved to be a defensive battle, the teams played to a 1-0 score after four complete.
“Their shortstop is playing out in left-center, playing out on the grass, and she robbed three or four base hits that other teams don’t make just because she’s an 18-year-old stud athlete,” Coach Newland noted. “They made plays, we made plays.”
Centerville went down 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth, bringing Greenville to the plate in the bottom of the fifth.
Kendall Cromwell led off the fifth with her second double of the game. Leah Force moved Cromwell to third with a perfectly placed bunt. Lily Brubaker stepped to the plate to drill a scorcher to right, sending the tying run home with the score standing at 1-1. A heads-up play by Coach Newland at third and Brubaker rounding second had the speedy Brubaker racing to third, with Centerville failing to cover the bag.
Morgan Thompson beat out an infield Lady Elks error, scoring Brubaker from third, giving the Lady Wave a 2-0 lead that would hold up for the game’s final score.
“Lily with one out busts one through to get us the run, then as she’s moving over she notices they’re not at third and she takes that extra base and the next batter when Morgan flairs out there off the pitcher, she scores and that extra base got it, it’s huge, can’t say enough about it,” Coach Newland said. “Just heads up base running. Wish we had some more of that – be contagious.”
Lady Wave freshman Ella Oswalt got the final out of the game with a swinging Centerville strikeout following a Rielynn Davidson running catch of a deep fly ball.
“Davidson tracked that ball in the last inning,” Newland noted.
LWSB freshman Ella Oswalt earned a complete game win on the mound for the Lady Wave, allowing one earned run, four hits, one walk while striking out four Lady Elks’ batters.
Greenville played error-free softball, and Centerville committed one error on the day.
“The youngin’ did great on the mound,” Newland said, “and we played great defense around her.”
Cromwell paced the Lady Wave at the plate, going 2-2 with two doubles and a run scored. Brubaker went 1-2 with an RBI and a run, and Zoey Burns was 1-3 on the day.
“Kendal Cromwell has two doubles, two of the four hits,” said Newland. “Just a crisp softball game. Fun day for softball, made a lot of plays, did some stuff, and hats off, big program win.”
“Proud of the kids, proud of everything,” Newland concluded. “Excited for the opportunity on Monday.”
The Lady Wave hosts the West Carrollton Lady Pirates on Monday, April 28, and Piqua comes to town on Tuesday, April 29, with both dates being conference matchups. Game start time is 5 p.m. at Lady Wave Stadium at Stebbins Field.
With the win, the Lady Wave improve to 15-1 overall and 11-0 in MVL action.
BOX SCORE:
123 456 7 R H E
100 000 0 1 4 1 Centerville
000 020 X 2 4 0 Greenville
