Trending
WHEELING - It took second-seeded Frontier six innings to get the bats going Monday afternoon, but when coach Eric Rinard's Cougars did get them going they didn't stop.
After collecting just four hits through the initial five innings, Frontier (8-6) strung together nine hits in the deciding sixth inning while pushing across 10 runs against a stunned Madonna squad in an Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Class A semifinal softball game.
Winning pitcher Kaycee Berentz scattered four hits, fanning six and walking two, and plated the go-ahead run in the home-half of the sixth with a base hit as the Cougars rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to post a six inning 13-3 victory over the Blue Dons on Lisa's Field at the I-470 Sport Complex.
Key hits were the deciding factor in the contest, the ones that Frontier was able to get and the ones that Madonna (7-9) never found.
The Cougars advance to the small-school championship game where they will battle No. 1 seed Conotton Valley.
"This is where we had planned, and hoped, to be," A happy Rinard said afterwards.
Things could not have started much better for coach Jason Backel's Madonna squad, while they also could not have begun much worse for Frontier in the top of the first.
Chloe Orecchio got things going for the Dons with a lead-off double and quickly stole third. Orecchio scored the game's first run when Carmela Pulice reached on the first of two Cougars' errors in the opening frame. After a strikeout Pulice scored on losing pitcher Kendal Ryan's fielder's choice before Rylee Birkheimer's double plated the third run while she was thrown out at third to end the inning.
Frontier got one back in the home-half when Jamison Schmidt reached on a two-base error and scored on Macie Gilkey's RBI single.
Madonna loaded the bases with no one out in the third and their 5-6-7 hitters due up, however, Berentz and her Cougar teammates were able to get out of the jam with no harm done.
The Dons weren't as lucky in the bottom of the third as Savannah Offenberger reached on a one-out single just ahead of a long Schmidt home run over the left field fence that knotted the count at 3-3.
For the second time in three innings Madonna once again loaded the bases with no one out in the fifth and their 5-6-7 hitters coming to bat and for the second time in three innings Frontier toed the line and got out of the mess without allowing a run.
With the score still tied at 3-3 heading to the bottom of the sixth the Cougar bats were about to come to life.
Keeley Barrows started things with a double and came around to score the go-ahead run when Berentz ripped one straight up-the-middle off the pitcher's leg for a run-scoring single. An Alexa Allen base hit, and an error, put runners at second and third when Gracie Mendenall singled to left, only to have the ball get past the left fielder for a three-base error with all three runners scoring to push the margin to 7-3.
Kate Congleton launched a long, two-run homer later in the frame while Berentz had her second run-scoring hit of the sixth, a double, that made it an 11-3 count a short time later. Mendenhall's two-run single plated the final two tallies as the Cougars began their celebration to cap things off.
"I told the girls hits are contagious," Rinard said. "We did a nice job getting ahead in the count in the sixth inning and the girls were patient at the plate and it paid off.
"Kaycee (Berentz) did a great job hitting the strike zone all game, especially after getting into trouble in those innings, and we got some big outs when we really needed them."
Barrows had three hits for Frontier with Gilkey and Berentz each collecting a pair with two RBI a piece.
'All we needed was some contact in either of those two innings that we had the bases loaded," Backel commented. "Unfortunately, their pitcher did a great job and was able to pitch out of it both times. Getting the big hits has been an issue for us all season, but we are a very young team.
"I brought nine girls down here (Monday) and I couldn't be prouder of them. We were sitting at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth, but couldn't hold on. We will be back here next year."
OVAC Class A Semifinal
Frontier 13, Madonna 3 (6 inns).
Madonna 300 00 0 — 3 4 4
Frontier 102 00(10) — 13 13 5
M-Ryan lp (2K, 3w) and Orecchio. Orecchio D; Pietranton D; Ryan S, rbi; Birkheimer D, rbi.
F-Berentz wp (6k, 2w) and Schmidt. Mendenhall D, 2rbi; Schmidt HR, 2rbi; Gilkey S, D, 2rbi; Congleton HR, 2rbi; Barrows 2S, D; Berentz S, D, 2rbi.