Mighty Titans toppled, Lady Indians headed back to the Elite Eight

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

In one dugout sat the Peebles Lady Indians, the team who just recently snapped a seven-game losing streak and who stood at .500 at 12-12 for the season. In the other dugout sat the Portsmouth Notre Dame Lady Titans, sitting at 23-0 on the spring and favored by many to sweep through the Division IV districts and regionals on their way to the Final Four. Sounds a little one-sided but someone forgot to define “underdogs” for the Lady Indians.

All the stats in the scorebook and numbers on the scoreboard are necessary but they are just numbers, they don’t measure “heart”. And this yea’rs group of Lady Indians has a lot of that, along with a grit and determination to overcome all odds, which is exactly what they had to do on Wednesday evening at Pickerington Central High School. Facing the heavily favored lady Titans, the Peebles girls showed just what they are made of as they gave their fans a night to remember, Down 8-1 with things looking bleak after four innings, the Lady Indians pulled off a miracle comeback, scoring eight times in the top of the fifth inning to stun the Lady Titans, then going toe to toe with the Portsmouth squad the rest of the way and pulling off an improbable 10-9 win in a Division IV regional semi-final battle that propelled them to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season.

“This was unbelievable,” said Peebles head coach Doug McFarland. “The way we started out had me worried, we knew they had a solid team but our kids just never gave up. Just like the Symmes Valley game, I came in after the third inning and told our girls to quit chasing stuff at the plate. We fianlly started staying off those high pitches and started hitting the ball in the zone. We had a lot of really nice bunts tonight that helped us, kids got the ball down and we moved runners, the things we need to do.”

“The way we ended the season no one expected us to be here,” McFarland continued. “They were 23-0 but I told our kids they weren’t unbeatable if we played our game.”

“I give all the credit to my kids. They listened and went out and did what we told them and once westarted putting the ball in play, we were in good shape. They did all we asked them to and as coaches that’s all we can ask for. I am just so proud of our team.”

If you were on hand in Pickerington on Wednesday and watched the Peebles offense for the first three innings, you certainly had to wonder if the Lady Indians were going to score at all, much less eventually put up 10 runs, Facing Notre Dame freshman right hander Gwen Sparks, the first nine Peebles hitters were retired, eight of them via the swinging strikeout. The only ball put in play was a fly out to center field off the bat of Kyndell Lloyd that ended the bottom of the first. The tall and lean Sparks has a lot of motion in her delivery and for three innings, it kept the Lady Indians off balance, but that soon changed.

While the Peebles bats were silent, the Lady Titans were building a lead off Lady Indians’ starter Lanie Johnston. Notre Dame got off to a fast start, scoring three times in their initial at-bat, the first two coming on a passed ball combined with a throwing error and the third coming across on a base hot by Sparks. The Lady Titans added one in the second when Isabel Cassidy singled and later slid home safely on a base hit by third baseman Kaylor Pickelseimer.

In the bottom of the third, Notre Dame tacked on two more and without even having a base runner yet, the Lady Indians were staring at a 6-0 deficit.

Finally in the top of the fourth, the Peebles bats began to show signs of life as they finally put a run on the board. Marisa Moore led off with a single, the first Peebles hit, and she was sacrificed to second on a perfect bunt from two-hole hitter Baylie Johnston. Moore would scamper home with the first run when Lloyd reached on an error by Pickelseimer at third base, making it 6-1. The Lady Titans made it four consecutive scoring innings when they batted in the bottom of the fourth, scoring twice when Sparks walked and then came home when fellow freshman Kyndall Ford blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence that extended the Notre Dame lead to 8-1.

Many of the assembled crowd on both sides of Field #3 may have had visions of a mercy rule game forthcoming, but that thought didn’t permeate the Peebles dugout and when they came to bat in the top half of the fifth inning, the entire momentum of the game suddenly changed. Twelve batters later, the seven-run deficit on the scoreboard was erased and turned into a one-run advantage as the Lady Indians tallied eight runs.

Lanie Johnston led off the frame with a walk, and advanced to second on a base hit by Darby Mills. Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Lily McFarland and then both came home on a base hit by Caydence Carroll that made it 8-3. Moore followed with a line drive double to the gap in left center and an ensuing walk to Baylie Johnston loaded the bases. A long at-bat by Lloyd resulted in another run that forced home Carroll and after Emmi Nichols struck out for the second out of the inning, a base hit by Avery Storer drove home Moore and Johnston to cut the Notre Dame lead to two.

Lanie Johnston singled to again load the bases and Mills followed with a clutch two-out hit, a blooper to right that got past the right fielder and went for a bases-clearing double that gave the Lady Indians a 9-8 advantage.

“Once our girls realized that they could put the ball in play, they gained a lot of confidence,” said Coach McFArland. “They knew we could bunt and they knew we could run on them.”

The Lady Indians kept that lead until the bottom of the sixth when Notre Dame scored once to tie it up, after the first two batters were retired. Ford was hit by a pitch and came around to score when a base hit by Maddy Suter took an odd bounce away from Mills in left field.

All even at 9 in what was now a tension-filled, edge-of-the-seat, every pitch is important game, the Lady Indians went down in order in the top of the seventh, and in the bottom half the Lady Titans put the winning run in scoring position with one out on singles by Madison Brown and Ava Hassel. Johnston was up to the task in the center circle, however, as she got Cassidy on a fly ball to short center and Pickelseimer on a ground out to third to send the game into extra innings.

Peebles again went down in order in the top of the eighth, and Notre Dame did the same in their half. In the top of the ninth, though, the Lady Indians struck again, playing small ball for the lead. Moore led off with a base hit and then stole second. Another perfectly placed bunt by Baylie Johnston moved Moore to third where she came home with the go-ahead run when Lloyd slapped a single to left to give her team the lead at 10-9.

In the bottom of the ninth, Katie Strickland led off for Notre Dame and reached on an infield hit and was bunted to second by Brown. With the tying run in scoring position, Johnston retired Annie Dettwiler on a fly ball to Mills in left, bringing Hassel to the dish as the last hope for Notre Dame. On an 0-1 pitch, Hassle blooped a pop up over second that looked for a moment like it might fall but second baseman Emmi Nichols raced back and made the catch in short right field to seal the deal for the Lady Indians, end the Notre Dame unbeaten season, and send the Lady Indians back to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season, one step away from a return trip to Akron and the Final Four.

Lanie Johnston went the full nine innings in the center circle to get the win, gutting it out after a rough start to blank the Lady Titans over the last three crucial innings. Johnston didn’t strike out a single batter but let her defense do the job behind her. Sparks took the loss for Notre Dame, also going the full nine innings and striking out 15.

“You could tell after the first couple of innings that Lanie was really out of it but she battled and I give her credit, she had to throw a ton of pitches today,” said Coach McFarland. “Our defense made a lot of nice plays behind her too.”

With the upset win, the Lady Indians will be returning to Pickerington Central on Saturday, May 29 at noon, facing 16-13 Newark Catholic for the right to move on to the Division IV Final Four, defending their 2019 regional championship. Newark Catholic defeated Danville 11-10 on Wednesday to earn their Elite Eight berth.

BOX SCORE

Peebles

000 180 001— 10

Notre Dame

312 201 000— 9

Peebles Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Moore 5-3-3-0, B. Johnston 2-1-0-0, Lloyd 4-1-2-2, Nichols 3-0-0-0, Storer 5-1-1-2, L. Johnston 4-2-1-0, Mills 4-1-2-3, McFarland 3-0-0-0, Carroll 4-1-1-2l Team 34-10-10-9.

Extra-Base Hits: Moore 2B, Lloyd 2B, Mills 2B

N. Dame Hitting (Ab-R-H-RBI): Dettwiller 6-1-0-0, Hassel 6-1-3-0, Cassidy 5-1-1-0, Pickelseimer 4-1-1-1, Sparks 4-1-2-1, Ford 3-3-2-2, Suter 5-0-2-0, Strickland 4-1-2-0, Brown 4-0-2-1, Team 41-9-15-5.

Extra-Base Hits: Ford HR

Peebles Pitching: L. Johnston (W) 9 IP, 15 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 4 BB

N. Dame Pitching: Sparks (L) 9 IP, 10 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 4 BB, 15 K