By Mark Carpenter-
The Peebles Lady Indians softball squad traveled to Akron earlier this spring to participate in the Akron Fire Tournament. They’re going back, but this time with a much bigger prize at stake. With an exciting 5-3 win on Saturday over the Danville Lady Blue Devils in a Division IV regional championship game played at Pickerington Central High School, Coach Doug McFarland and his squad will see all their hard work pay off with the school’s first-ever appearance in the OHSAA Final Four at Firestone Stadium in Akron.
“When that last out came down, I was so happy, I love it for our kids,” said Coach McFarland after the win. “They’ve worked hard to get here and they did a heckuva job today. We’ve just got a great group of kids all the way through the girls program at Peebles and we all work together and it’s a special feeling.”
Looking for her 24th win of the season, Peebles senior Madison Pierce stepped to the center circle at game’s beginning. opposed by Danville’s Sammie Lavender. Pierce went through the first two innings scoreless, helping her own cause when she fielded a bunt that was popped up and turned it into a double play in the top of the second inning. The bottom of the second proved to be the offensive turning point for the Lady Indians, as they put a huge four-spot on the board against Lavender.
Christian Reed led off the frame by reaching on a throwing error and was sacrificed to second on a Hope Brown bunt. That bought sophomore second baseman Kyndell Lloyd to the plate to strike the game’s biggest blow. Lloyd found an 0-1 pitch to her liking and drove it over the left field fence for her first home run of the season and a 2-0 Peebles lead. Not satisfied with just the two runs, the Lady Indians went right back to work, getting back to back base hits from Avery Storer and Jerilin Toller, both of whom came home later in the inning on a base hit to left by Marissa Moore, making the Peebles advantage 4-0.
“We’ve been waiting for Kyndell to do that,” said Coach McFarland. “She has a ton of ability and can really hit the ball and that home run seemed to relax us. She was in a little slump and I was happy for her.”
“I knew we needed a hit but I wasn’t expecting a home run,” said the excited Lloyd after the game. “I was shocked when it went over the fence but it sure felt good.”
The score remained a four-run difference as Pierce retired eight Danville hitters in a row at one point and in the bottom of the fifth, her offense added one more. Moore led off with a single to center and moved around to third on Pierce’s second hit of the game. After Kylie Sims popped out to second for the first out of the inning, Reed came to bat and laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt on the first pitch she saw, scoring Moore from third and making it 5-0 Peebles.
“Adding that run on the squeeze was big,” said McFarland. “When she came to the plate, I knew she was capable of getting the bunt down for us.”
The Lady Blue Devils got their only runs of the game in the top of the sixth, scoring three times to make things interesting. A single and then a questionable safe call on a stolen base put a runner on second, and catcher Kaitlynn Briggs’ single got Danville on the board. Lavender followed with a blast over the center field fence that cut the Peebles lead down to just two runs, but the Lady Blue Devils were running out of outs. A fly ball to Toller ended the Danville sixth and after Peebles went down in order in their half, the Lady Indians took the field just three outs from a regional championship.
Pierce took care of that business in short order, getting the first batter on a nice diving catch of a short pop up by her battery mate Sims. A ground ball to Lloyd at second was out number two and on a 1-2 pitch, the final batter of the game was caught looking and it was time for a Lady Indians celebration, the first regional title in school history, 1 5-3 triumph which sent them to the state’s Final Four in Division IV.
In the win, the Peebles off produced eight hits, two each from Moore, Pierce, and Toller, while Pierce threw the complete game, striking out four and as it usually the case, walking not a single hitter. The Peebles defense again played errorless softball, which gave the Lady Blue Devils no extra opportunities.
“Normally Madison has a lot more strikeout but we told her it’s not about strikeout numbers, it’s about getting the win one pitch at a time, one batter at a time,” said Coach McFarland. “She’s a gamer and we’ve done a nice job defensively through the whole tournament.”
Now it is on the Final Four where the Lady Indians will face another tough task in the Antwerp Lady Archers, who are led by an all-state pitcher in Carlie Hines and all-district catcher Karsyn Brumett and all-district infielder Tiera Gomez. That state semi-final game will take place on Friday, May 31 at 3 p.m. at Firestone Stadium, with the winner earning a spot in the 7 p.m. Saturday, June 1 Division IV state championship contest.
“At the beginning of the season I was a little afraid that we couldn’t make it this far and now to be making school history is absolutely awesome,” said Pierce after the regional title win. “I knew coming into the seventh inning that it was three outs and we’d be on to Akron.”
Danville
000 003 0 —3
Peebles
040 010 x —5
Danville Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Alberts 3-1-1-0, Parker 3-0-0-0, Briggs 3-0-2-1, Lavender 3-1-1-2, Duncan 3-0-1-0, Berger 2-0-0-0, Shilling 1-0-0-0, Newbold 3-0-0-0, Anderson 2-0-0-0, Holt 2-0-1-0, Baldridge 0-1-0-0, Team 25-3-6-3.
Extra-Base Hits: Lavender HR
Peebles Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Short 3-0-0-0, Moore 3-1-2-2, Pierce 3-0-2-0, Sims 3-0-0-0, Reed 2-1-0-1, Brown 2-0-0-0, Lloyd 2-1-1-2, Storer 3-1-1-0, Toller 3-1-2-0, Team 24-5-8-5.
Extra-Base Hits: Pierce 2B, Lloyd HR
Danville Pitching:
Lavender (L) 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Peebles Pitching:
Pierce (W) 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
