By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Coming off a successful 18-6 2025 season, Coach Matthias Applegate and his Manchester Lady Greyhounds softball squad began their 2026 regular season on March 21 with a non-conference trip to Brown County to battle the Georgetown Lady G-Men on a perfect weather afternoon. For a season opner the game turned out to be an exciting one, with the Lady Hounds erasing a five-run first inning deficit to take a lead, only to fall 7-6 in extra innings.
“Going down 5-0 in the first is rough, but they fought back and at no point did we lay down or quit,” said Coach Applegate. “We just had a few balls that didn’t fall our way and that decided the outcome of the game. Hopefully we can build off of this loss.”
Coach Applegate and his staff had some new faces in the lineup after losing seniors to graduation and has especially big shoes to fill in the center circle after losing All-Ohio pitcher Rylie Young to graduation. Applegate tabbed his daughter, junior right hander Elliana, to take the ball and the starting nod on Saturday.
On the offensive side, Elliana stroked a one-out double to left in the top of the first but was left stranded, sending her to the mound in the bottom of the first for her first varsity start and it was an auspicious beginning, though she may have deserved a better fate. Maybe it was first-game jitters, but the combination of three walks, some defensive lapses and a two-bagger by Gerogetowns’Carolym Edmisten left the Lady Hounds staring up at a 5-0 deficit after one inning.
After the rocky first frame, Applegate settled down and started putting up zeroes, giving her team time to jump on the comeback trail. That comeback began in the top of the third with the Manchester pitcher helping herself at the plate. With one out, Hayven Newland legged out an infield hit, Addilyn Hunter did the sane, which brought Applegate to the plate. She found a 2-1 offering from Georgetown pitcher Brylee Faul to her liking and drove it over the left-center field fence for a three-run homer that sliced the lead for the Lady G-Men to 5-3.
The comeback continued for the Lady Hounds in the top of the fourth when they added one more when Bayleigh Spires scored on a ground out off the bat of Newland. Manchester came all the way back in the top half of the sixth to take their lead. With one away, Peyton Hayslip drew a walk and after a strikeout, Hayden King reached on an infield hit that ended up with her at second and Hayslip standing on third. Coming up clutch, Hayven Newland dumped a base hit into short left field, scoring both runners and giving the visitors a 6-5 advantage.
The score remained that way until Georgetown came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. With Applegate sill in the circle for the Lady Hounds, Down to their last strike, the Lady G-Men got a walk, a base hit and then a game-tying single from Zoey Kelch. with the winning run on base, Applegate coaxed a Morgan Preston ground out to second to end the threat and send the game into extra innings.
In the top half of the right, the Lady Hounds got an infield hit from Spires but left her stranded, bring the home team to bat with a chance for the walk-off win. Edmisten led off the inning with a long two-base hit to left, followed by a walk to Ashley Mullins. Layla Beath came to the plate and reached safely on an error, allowing Edmisten to race across with the winning run in a 7-6 triumph.
The Lady Hounds banged out 10 hits in the season-opening loss, two each from Elliana Applegate, Bristynn McClanahan and Hayven Newland, with Newland driving home three runs. Applegate was the tough luck loser on the mound, allowing five earned runs while issuing nine walks.
The Georgetown offense produced a nine-hit attack, led by two knocks each from Zoey Kelch and Carolyn Edmisten. In relief, Morgan Preston was the winning pitcher,
The Lady Hounds were right back in action on Monday, opening their home schedule with another non-conference contest, hosting Western Latham. A very busy week continued on Tuesday with a home date with New Boston, home with Sciotoville East on Wednesday and then on Thursday a road date at Augusta.
(Update: The Lady Hounds came back on Monday to get their first win of teh season, hammering out a 20-4 run-rule win over visiting Western Latham. Manchester pounded out 10 hits, including a second home run in as many games for Elliana Applegate.)
Manchester
003 102 00 —6
Georgetown
500 001 01 —7
Manchester (AB-R-H-RBI): Hunter 4-1-1-0, Applegate 4-1-2-3, McClanahan 4-0-2-0, Brown 4-0-0-0, Carter 4-0-1-0, Hayslip 3-2-1-0, Spires 4-0-1-0, Conley 2-0-0-0, King 2-1-1-0, Newland 4-1-2-3, Team 35-6-10-6,
Extra-Base hits: Hayslip 2B, H. Newland 2B, Applegate 2B, HR
Georgetown (AB-R-H-RBI): Kelch 5-0-2-1, Preston 3-1-0-0, #3 1-0-0-0, Edmisten 4-2-2-1, Mullins 3-1-1-0, Beath 3-1-0-0, Faul 3-0-0-1, Hudson 3-1-0-0, McElroy 1-0-1-0, #5 1-1-1-0, Brownlee 3-0-1-0, Team 31-7-9-5.
Extra-Base Hits: Kelch 2B, Edmisten 2B (2)
Manchester Pitching:
Applegate (L)- 7 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 9 BB, 2 K
Georgetown Pitching:
Faul 3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 K
Preston (W) 4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2K
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