BELLEFONTAINE – Tri-Village jumped on top of Fort Recovery 3-0 in the first inning in an OHSAA DVI Regional Semifinal game and stayed a step ahead banging out 11 hits to defeat the Indians 9-5 to advance to the Elite Eight.
The two teams met in the regular season on April 28th that resulted in a 5-2 Patriot win.
Emma Greer and Emma Cantrell got the Patriots off to a good start with consecutive hits. Greer would steel home for the first score of the game. A few batters later Aereonna Baker (1-for-2, 2 RBIs, 1 walk) doubled to score Cantrell and Hailey Burk who walked in the inning to take an early 3-0 lead.
The Indians would get a run back in the top half of the 2nd inning. Tri-Village looked like they would get that run back in the bottom half with two runners on and one out … but the Indians got a strikeout and put-out to end the inning unscathed.
The Patriots pitching and defense held the Fort scoreless in the third and fourth inning and then went to work for pushing across four runs in the bottom half of the fourth to open up a 7-1 lead.
Mylee Bierly (1-for-4, 1 run) got it going to start with a single up the middle and she scored on a triple from Addie Wright firing up the Patriots. Greer (2-for-4, 2 runs, 1 rbi) got her second hit of the day pushing the lead to 5-1.
Cantrell (1-for-3, 3 runs, 1 walk, 1 rbi) added more excitement when she sacrificed a bunt to third base that was mishandled scoring Greer. Cantrell was able to take second on the error then third base and eventually made it all the way home for a 7-1 lead.
With no outs Tri-Village was looking for more but hit three consecutive pop-ups to end inning.
Fort Recovery responded in the top half of the fifth inning on back-to-back singles. With one out and two runners on pitcher Jenna Homan stepped to the plate and on the first pitch hit a line drive over the left field fence to spark life into the Indians who now trailed 7-5.
The next two batters put a charge into the ball as well, both ended up as long outs with Kash Mead running one down in right field and Bierly at the fence in center to get out of the inning
The score remained 7-5 going into the top of the sixth inning and the Fort leadoff hitter doubled to start. Elizabeth Poling (7 innings, 8 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts) went the distance, got the batter to hit to shortstop Camryn Osborne, held the runner at second before firing to first base for the out.
Poling duplicated that effort getting the next hitter to ground to Osborne again. She got the runner at first again … but this time the runner at second attempted to go to third base. Addy Wright erased here with a perfect throw to Emma Greer placing the tag in front of the base for a double play to get out of the inning.
The big play pumped the Patriots. Emma Cantrell drew a walk to start off the bottom half of the 6th inning then stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch putting pressure on the Indians.
Hailey Burke (1-for-3, 1 rbi, 1 run) hit a slow grounder to the pitcher and on the throw to first Cantrell broke from third to home scoring to push the lead to 8-5.
Camryn Osborne (2-for-4, 1 run) followed with her second hit of the game and went to second when Aereonna Baker was hit by a pitch. Kash Mead (2-for-4) picked up her second hit to load the bases with still with just one out. Homan then walked Tai Mize (1 rbi, 1 run) to score Osborne to give the Patriots a 9-5 lead.
Fort Recovery prevented further damage by coming up with their own double play and would head to the plate for the last time in the top of the 7th inning.
Poling got the first hitter on a strikeout but then gave up a triple down the right field line to give the Fort some hope.
The next batter grounded out to Osborne for the second out, only to see Jenna Homan step in the box looking to duplicate her big homer in the 4th inning. She came close by putting a charge into the ball to deep center field … but Mylee Bierly was able to haul it in at the fence to end threat and the game for a 9-5 Patriots win over the Indians.
The win sets up a Regional final rematch with Minster from last year, a game the Patriots fell short 5-3 in reaching the state semifinals.
After the game Tri-Village coach Emily Osborne talked about getting off to a good start and putting pressure on Fort Recovery by staying aggressive and holding off multiple comebacks by the Indians.
“We did a good job jumping out in front with the three runs to start the game. Everyone put the bat on the ball and our base running was key in squeezing in a couple of runs through out the game. When we are aggressive it causes the other team to maybe make errors giving us those extra bases and getting us in scoring position, so we can put it away with those base hits and we were successful doing that,” Osborne said.
“It was a complete team effort, as we rallied behind our pitcher Liz Poling. Fort Recovery is a good team, and they adjusted, but we were able to continue to hold them off,” Osborne stated.
“When they started to make their run, we made some good defensive plays to help Liz out and the double play by Camryn Osborne to Addy Wright to Emma Greer in the 6th inning was big,” Osborne added.
With Minster winning their game over West Jefferson it put the Patriots right where they want to be in a rematch with the Wildcats in the regional final.
After the Patriots loss to Minster last year, they collected dirt from the field to serve as a reminder for the last 365 days and now they can return the dirt with a 2nd chance. Win and they will go to Akron to the state final four.
That opportunity will play out at noon on Saturday at Bellfontaine Blue Jacket Stadium.
