Coach Matthias Applegate and his Manchester Lady Greyhounds turned in the most successful softball season in school history, finishing 24-2 and winning SHAC, sectional and district championships. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester ends most successful season at 24-2
Manchester catcher Maggie Roberts cocks her arm to throw as a Strasburg runner slides safely home in last week’s Division IV regional semi-final contest. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
All good things must come to an end and for the 2023 Manchester Lady Greyhounds that end came on May 24 at Pickerington Central High School. After winning the first Division IV district softball championship in school history, the reward for the Lady Hounds was a regional semi-final date with the state’s #1 ranked Strasburg-Franklin Lady Tigers, and the Lady Tigers showed everyone in attendance that it was well-deserved top ranking.
Perhaps it was bit of nerves on the big stage but the Manchester hopes of advancing were dashed early and often when the Lady Tigers scored six times in the top of the first inning and just played add-on after that, a huge 13-run fourth inning leading them to the one-sided 21-0 victory. For the Lady Hounds, it was a disappointing end but did nothing to tarnish what they accomplished this spring, a 24-2 record, a perfect 13-0 record in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, a sectional title, the school’s first district title, and a slew of individual awards which includes three First Team All-District players.
“We knew going into this game that they were the defending state champions and ranked #1 and we’d have to have the best game of our lives,” said Manchester head coach Matthias Applegate in his postgame radio interview. “We were just a ball of nerves to start the game and made several errors and you just can’t give an inch to a team that good. I tip my hat to them, they’re an amazing team.”
Junior Rylie Young got the start for the Lady Hounds against Strasburg-Franklin and the first three hitters she faced reached safely on a walk, single, and a hit by pitch and after that the flood gates just opened for the Lady Tigers to plate six runs.
The Manchester offense had been unstoppable all season, but they were stymied in a major way by Strasburg left-hander Amelia Spidell, who pitched a perfect game in the five inning run rule win, striking out 13 of the 15 Manchester hitters she faced, a Jenna Campbell fly out and a Rylie Young ground out in the fourth inning being the only Lady Hounds to put the ball in play.
Emilee Applegate came on to relieve Young with one out in the third inning, but nothing could stop the booming bats of the Lady Tigers, though the Lady Hounds helped the Strasburg run total accumulate with a number of fielding miscues on some very hard-hit balls. The Lady Tigers exploded for 13 runs in the top of the fourth, three of them coming on a long home run by Ella Gilkerson. The memorable and magical Manchester season came to a close in the bottom of the fifth when Kameyl Carter, Maggie Roberts and Harley Rideout all went down swinging for the game’s final three outs.
The Lady Tigers went on to defeat Portsmouth Notre Dame 8-4 in the Division IV regional title game, advancing them to the Final Four in Akron later this week.
For the Lady Hounds, it was a season to remember for all and a team that put up some gaudy offensive numbers.
• Kameyl Carter (Sr)- .557, 15 2B, 6 HR, 48 RBI
• Rylie Young (Jr)- .537, 22 extra-base hits, 32 RBI
• Jenna Campbell (Jr)- .518, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 51 runs scored
• Emilee Applegate (Sr)- .459, 4 HR, 47 RBI
• Harley Rideout (Sr)- .333, 23 RBI
• Maggie Roberts (Sr)- .333, 31 RBI
In the center circle, the Lady Hounds were led by the duo of Rylie Young and Emilee Applegate. Young went 13-2 with a 2.35 earned run average, striking out 133 batters in 89.1 innings pitched.
Applegate was 11-0 with a 2.09 ERA, fanning 73 hitters in 63.2 innings pitched.
“At the beginning of the year I told the girls to set goals,” said Coach Applegate. “My goal was to win the league and the ultimate goal of a district title. They came to me with the goal of a Gold Glove, perfect in the league, plus a district title and I told them I loved the high expectations. We hadn’t won the league in 31 years but they worked so hard and it was a rough way to see it end but they had the best season in school history. I’m super proud of them all.”
“We’re graduating six special seniors and it will be tough to replace those young ladies. They’ve been together for 13 seasons and they are nearly irreplaceable. We have some eighth grade girls coming up with some pretty high expectations and a great group of girls returning for next season.”
Strasburg-Franklin
620 (13)0 —21
Manchester
000 00 —0
S-Franklin Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): A. Spidell 2-2-1-1, Abdel-Basset 1-0-0-0, Reiger 4-3-3-2, Reifenschneider 1-0-1-0, O. Spidell 3-2-2-2, Harvey 1-0-0-0, M. Richards 4-3-3-4, Secrest 1-2-0-0, Sibila 3-0-1-2, Gilkerson 4-3-3-4, Myers 2-2-0-0, A. Richards 0-0-0-0,
Allensworth 3-1-1-2, Becker 4-1-0-0, Team 33-21-15-17.
Extra_base Hits: M. Richards 2B, Gilkerson HR
Manchester Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Campbell 2-0-0-0, Young 2-0-0-0, E. Applegate 2-0-0-0, Carter 2-0-0-0, Roberts 2-0-0-0, Rideout 2-0-0-0, Freeman 1-0-0-0, Neria 1-0-0-0, J. Applegate 1-0-0-0, Team 15-0-0-0.
S-Franklin Pitching:
A. Spidell (W) 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 13 K
Manchester Pitching:
Young (L) 2.1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
E. Applegate 2.2 IP, 11 H, 15 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
