With her teammates waiting at home plate, Manchester’s Rylie Young heads for home plate after blasting a three-run homer in the fourth inning of the Lady Hounds’ district semifinal loss to Reedsville Eastern. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester’s Abby Neria had a big game at the plate in the Division VII district semifinals, collecting three hits, including a pair of doubles. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester senior Jaylise Applegate lashes a base hit with this swing in action from the Lady Hounds’ tough defeat to Reedsville Eastern on May 19. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester catcher Bristynn McClanahan lays the tag on Reedsville’s sliding Jaynna Wright in action from the 12-10 Reedsville victory in the Division VII district semis on May 19. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Riding a seven-game winning streak that included a 10-0 win over Waterford in the Division VII district tournament quarterfinals, the Manchester Lady Greyhounds softball squad headed to the familiar confines of the University of Rio Grande on Monday, May 19 for a district semifinal battle with the Reedsville Eastern Lady Eagles. The contest had all the markings of a classic match up, Manchester being the #4 seed and Reedsville being #5, but what transpired on Monday evening at Rio was not what anyone expected, especially the Lady Hounds’ faithful.
At the plate, the Lady Hounds pounded out 15 hits and scored 10 runs, which for them, normally means another easy “W”, but not this time. The most important number on the night was 7, the number of errors committed by the Manchester defense which led to nine unearned runs for the Lady Eagles. Eastern used those mistakes to build what looked to be an insurmountable 9-1 lead, only to see the scrappy Lady Hounds battle back to grab a 10-9 advantage. In the end, however, it was a pair of unearned runs in the top of the seventh that made the difference as Eastern held on for a 12-10 win and a date in the district finals with the state’s #1 ranked team in Division VII, Symmes Valley.
The mistakes began early for the Lady Hounds as Reedsville tallied two unearned runs in the top of the first inning, both coming home on a long two-base hit by starting pitcher Jaynna Wright. Manchester got one back in the bottom half when leadoff batter Addilyn Hunter reached on an Eastern miscue and came all the way around to score on a double to left center by Rylie Young.
Both sides went scoreless in the second inning, with Young striking out the side in a nice bounce-back after the rough first. But in the top of the third, the Eagles’ offense struck again, scoring three times. A walk, an error and a bunt single loaded the bases for Reedsville and after a strikeout, a walk to Wright forced home a run. For the entire game, the Lady Eagles were super aggressive at the plate and on the basepaths and they turned that Wright walk into a run plus a steal of home, catching the Lady Hounds napping. A wild pitch brought home the third run to give Reedsville an early 5-1 advantage.
The Lady Hounds went down in order in the bottom of the third and in the top of the fourth, the Eagles’ offense struck again. With one out, Abigail Newland reached on an error and that was followed by a blast to right by Aedre Ault that cleared the fence for a two-run homer and a 7-1 Reedsville lead. The Lady Eagles weren’t done as a walk and a bunt hit preceded singles by Rylie White and Wright to make it 9-1.
Facing something very unfamiliar to them, an eight-run deficit, the Lady Hounds came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and quickly changed the story of the game, scoring seven times to slice the Eastern lead to just one. With one out, Jaylise Applegate walked and came around to score on a two-bagger to left by Kloey Carter. Abby Neria then laced a double down the right field line that scored Carter, An infield hit put runners at first and third with Keeley Monroe pinch-running for Neria. Hunter scored Monroe on an infield hit, leading Reedsville to change pitchers, bringing on right hander Ashlynn Thomas to face Young. That switch didn’t go so well as Young took a 2-1 pitch and blasted it over the left field fence for a three-run bomb to make it 9-7. Ellianna Applegate followed with a sharp base hit up the middle and would later score on an error to make it a one-run game and bring the Manchester sidelines back to life.
Eastern threatened in the top of the fifth, putting runners on second and third with one out, but Young struck out the next two hitters to snuff out the threat. In the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Hounds made it all the way back and took the lead. Carter walked to lead off the frame followed by Neria dumping a base hit just inside the left field line. After Peyton Hayslip bounced into a 6-3 double play, Hunter slashed a base hit to center to score Carter and tie the game at 9. Hunter than raced around the bases with the go-ahead run as Young doubled to deep left, her third extra-base hit of the game.
That lead evaporated quickly as Eastern forged another tie in the top of the sixth,, scoring an unearned run on a two-out error. In the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Hounds threatened to retake the lead when Bristynn McClanahan led off with a single to center but Mahayla Brown grounded to shortstop Rylie White, who tapped second and threw a bullet to first for another twin killing. Jaylise Applegate followed with a base hit to center but Carter was caught looking to end the inning.
In the top of the seventh, Young struck out the first Eastern hitter then gave up a single to center to Ault, who advanced to second on an Emma Putnam base hit to left. The next hitter, Ashlynn Thomas, hit a sinking fly ball to right that Carter snagged with a nice running catch on for the second out and it looked like the Hounds were going to escape trouble when White lifted a lazy fly ball to right. Sometimes, though, the easiest plays turn difficult in tense situations and this fly ball got away from Carter, allowing two runners to score and giving Eastern a 12-10 lead.
In the bottom half of the seventh, with Wright back in the center circle for the Lady Eagles, Neria walked to lead off the inning, replaced at first by courtesy runner Chloe Freeman. After Hayslip went down swinging, Hunter slapped a base hit to right to put runners at first and third and bring Young to the dish, the ideal situation if you were a Manchester fan. After taking a strike and then fouling off two pitches, Young sliced a line drive that found the glove of Eastern’s White at shortstop and her throw to first caught Hunter off for the final out and just that quickly, the Manchester postseason came to an end with a gut-wrenching 12-10 defeat.
“I was super proud of how the ladies fought back from a 9-1 deficit and went up 10-9, however mistakes cost us the game,” said Manchester head coach Matthias Applegate. “We hit the ball well from top to bottom, but just couldn’t make the plays to win. It was a big heartbreak because we have been in the district finals or regionals the past three years and had the ability and opportunity to return. We just didn’t execute well enough to continue.”
The seven errors turned out to be too much to overcome but didn’t diminish the Manchester efforts at the plate. The Lady Hounds got three-hit days from Addilyn Hunter, Rylie Young and Abby Neria, with Young driving home half of the team’s 10 runs. Young threw a complete game in the circle and certainly deserved a much better fate as she battled her way to 14 strikeouts of a very solid-hitting Eastern team and gave up just three earned runs.
The Eastern offense collected 12 hits, getting three-hit efforts from Aedre Ault and Jaynna Wright, who also drove home three as the Lady Eagles moved to the district championship game. The top two hitters in the Reedsville lineup, Ault and Emma Putnam, combined to score eight runs.
If there is any solace for the Lady Hounds to be taken from the tough tournament loss, it’s the fact that they aren’t done playing yet and there is something still at stake. Weather permitting, the Lady Hounds were scheduled to travel to Fairfield on Wednesday, May 21 for their final Southern Hills Athletic Conference makeup game. Manchester knocked off the Lady Lions in a 9-8 thriller last week and a win on Wednesday will make them co-champions of the small school division of the SHAC.
R. Eastern
203 401 2 —12
Manchester
100 720 0 —10
R. Eastern Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Ault 4-4-3-2, Emma Putnam 3-4-1-0, Thomas 5-1-2-0, R. White 5-1-2-0, Wright 4-1-3-3, Elizabeth Putnam 4-0-0-0, C. White 4-0-0-0, Semlesburger 4-0-1-0, Newland 4-1-0-0, Team 37-12-12-6.
Extra-Base Hits: Ault 2B, HR; Wright 2B
Manchester Hitting (AB-R-H_RBI): Hunter 5-3-3-2, Young 5-1-3-5, E. Applegate 4-1-1-0, McClanahan 4-0-1-0, Brown 4-0-0-0, J. Applegate 3-1-1-0, Carter 3-2-1-1, Neria 3-0-3-1, Monroe 0-1-0-0, Freeman 0-0-0-0, Hayslip 4-1-2-0, Team 35-10-15-9.
Extra-Base Hits: Young 2B (2), HR; Neria 2B (2); Carter 2B
R. Eastern Pitching
Wright (W)- 3.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Thomas- 3.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Manchester Pitching
Young (L)- 7 IP, 12 H, 12 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 14 K
