Young Blue Dons fall in OVAC semifinal
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ELM GROVE -- A pair of youthful squads faced off in an Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Tom Bechtel Softball Championships Class 1A semifinal Monday.
Beallsville, the No. 2 seed, scored four times in the top of the first inning and never looked back in handing third-seeded Madonna a 12-0 setback in a game halted after four-and-a-half innings due to the 10-run mercy rule on Lisa's Field at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex.
With the victory, the Blue Devils (8-8) not only evened their record but advanced to the Class 1A title tilt for the first time in roughly a decade-and-a-half. They will meet the defending champion and No. 1 seed Conotton Valley which blanked No. 4 Paden City, 10-0, in another mercy-rule contest. That game will be played Friday at 5 p.m. at Ben's Field.
"We think it was 2005," Beallsville head coach Rhea Pittman said when asked how long it's been since the Blue Devils have played for an OVAC softball title. "We're not positive, but we think it was 2005."
Beallsville was the 2000 Class 1A champion.
Winning pitcher Kaylee Hagan, a promising freshman, and standout sophomore shortstop Kinley Hughes got things rolling with back-to-back RBI hits with one out. Hagan singled and Hughes doubled. Sophomore catcher Leah Trigg delivered a two-run double with two outs for a 4-0 reading as all nine Blue Devils batted.
"We wanted to get an early start," Pittman said. "This has been one of our goals the past two seasons. To win a game here is really big for our program. These girls have worked really hard all season."
That's all Hagan needed as she sparkled inside the circle. The righty struck out eight, walked one and scattered four harmless singles. She threw 83 pitches (64 strikes) and went ahead in the count on half of the 20 batters she faced.
"We are very young. We lost eight seniors and a transfer from last season," first-year Madonna head coach Jason Backel explained. "We are basically all freshmen and sophomores.
"We didn't hit the ball like we should and they took advantage of us on the basepaths," he added. "That all comes with experience, which is something we don't have right now.
"We got a little embarrassed out there, but we knew we would take some lumps this year," Backel continued. "I promise you we will be back next year."
Hughes doubled in Hagan, who had singled, with two outs in the second to make it 5-0 and the Blue Devils batted around in the third, sending nine batters to the plate with five crossing the plate for a 10-0 advantage.
Three of the runs scored on wild pitches, one when Hannah Phillips stole home and the last on a Hagan RBI single to right. Trigg tripled with one out to start the explosion.
An error and run-scoring single by Phillips in the fourth capped the scoring.
The Blue Dons' lone threat came in the second when they had runners on second and third with two outs, but Hughes made a web-gem diving catch of Jenna Costello's soft liner near second base to end the inning.
"That was a huge play by Kinley," Pittman said of the defensive play.
Hagan, Hughes and Trigg all enjoyed multi-hit outings. Six of the nine Blue Devils recorded a base hit as they totaled 10, and all but one scored at least once. Four scored twice.
"We received good hitting from just about everyone in our lineup," Pittman noted. "Our baserunning was on point, as well. We got stolen bases when we needed them and we took advantage of some of their wildness."
OVAC Tom Bechtel Championships
Semifinals
Class 1A
(at Lisa's Field)
Beallsville 12, Madonna 0
Madonna 000 00 - 0 4 1
Beallsville 415 2x - 12 10 0
M-Cross lp (5K, 7BB) and C. Orecchio; 4 singles
B-Hagan wp (8K, 1BB) and Trigg; Phillips S, rbi; Wells 2rbi; Hagan 3S, 3rbi; Hughes 2D, 2rbi; Trigg D, T, 2rbi; Hudson rbi