By Cort Reynolds
St. Henry scored 10 first-inning runs and rolled to a 17-0 win over host Ada in the Div. IV softball sectional finals on a warm and sunny Thursday evening.
The third-seeded Bulldogs fell to 16-7 with the season-ending defeat. Fifth-seeded SH hit four home runs and improved to 13-12 after the run-rule victory.
The slugging Redskin girls knocked out 21 hits, 11 of them for extra bases.
SH started the game with a sun-aided double and a home run by Lauren Thieman to provide an early 2-0 lead.
Redskin pitcher Carlee Rethman and third sacker Leah Lefeld followed with back-to-back doubles. Jalynn Everman then unloaded a homer, followed by a shot from catcher Kennedy Wendel.
CONTINUES
Alexis Buschur drilled a two-run double over the center fielder’s head to make it 8-0. Another double was followed by a long two-run homer over the left field wall by Rethman that extended the lead to 10-0.
Bulldog sophomore Jenna Bassitt led off the home first by bashing a double into the left-center field gap. Classmate Aidra Preston sacrifice bunted her to third.
But she was stranded there after a short fly out to left field, and a strikeout.
In the top of the second Bassitt struck out the Redskin side, sandwiched around two singles.
Ada went down in order in their second time at bat, with the hard-throwing Rethman striking out two.
In the top of the third, SH added on three runs. Buschur stroked a leadoff single to left-center. Thieman then pulled a double down the left field line to plate her for an 11-0 lead.
One out later, cleanup hitter Lefeld smoked a long two-run home run over the fence in center field to make it 13-0.
Everman doubled to left, but Bassitt escaped further damage by inducing two ground-outs to sophomore shortstop Karley Wagner.
In the bottom of the third inning, Ada freshman Marley Bulerin hit a single to left-center field with one out. Bassitt beat out a surprise bunt to third base. She was then forced out at second base on a grounder off the bat of Preston to shortstop.
With runners on the corners, Rethman got catcher Natilyn McClain to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.
Bassitt retired SH in order quickly in the fourth frame. With two out in the Ada half of the fourth, Belah Price hustled to force an error by the shortstop.
Speedy senior Kayla Wince beat out a bunt single to give Ada two baserunners. But a pop-out to Rethman ended the threat.
Relentless SH added four more runs in the top of the fifth. Thieman reached base on a leadoff error, then advanced on a wild pitch and a stolen base. She then scored on Lefeld’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Everman was hit by a pitch, and Olivia Gast singled to left field. Wendel delivered a two-run single to center field to stretch the lead to 16-0.
Three straight infield hits by Paige Felver and the Buschur girls plated the final run.
In the bottom of the fifth, Bassitt reached base with one out on an error. Preston forced her out at second on a grounder to Lefeld at third. McClain then lifted a long fly ball to left field that was caught to invoke the 10-run rule and end the game after five innings.
SH slugged seven doubles among their 11 extra-base hits.
Thieman, Rethman and Lefeld each slugged a home run and a double. The Buschur girls each hit a double and combined to hit four singles. Everman contributed a homer and a double.
Rethman struck out six and allowed four hits with no walks in her five-inning shutout.
Bassitt collected a double and a single for Ada to lift her season batting average to .514. Wince and Bulerin added the other Bulldog hits.
“St. Henry is a good team,” said Ada head coach Jeff Bassitt. “We surpassed our season goal of being .500 by far. If I had told the team before the season we would win 16 games and finish second in the NWC, we would have taken it.
“The season didn’t end like we wanted it to, but at the end of the day we still have a young group,” he added.
Ada starts six sophomores, two juniors and one freshman who will return next season.
The Redskins out-hit Ada, 21-4. The Bulldogs committed four errors, while SH made two miscues.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
StH 10 0 3 0 4 x x 17 21 2
Ada 0 0 0 0 0 x x 0 4 4
WP-Rethman LP-Bassitt (14-6)
2B-A. Buschur (SH), Thieman 2 (SH), R. Buschur (SH), Everman (SH), Rethman (SH), Lefeld (SH)
HR-Everman (SH), Thieman (SH), Rethman (SH), Lefeld (SH)
The Redskin girls advance to the district semifinals at Wapakoneta vs. MAC foe Parkway (16-4). The Panthers crushed visiting Hardin Northern 18-1 Thursday in their sectional final.
