Door closes on Minster's season

GREENVILLE - Daytaviah Rodgers slammed the door open for Mechanicsburg in the first inning.

She later helped Mechanicsburg close door with Minster rallying in the seventh.

Rodgers hit a first-inning grand slam and pitched the final two innings, recording a strikeout for the final out with Minster threatening as Mechanicsburg held on for an 8-4 victory in the Division IV regional championship Saturday at Greenville's Stebbins Field.

"We got ourselves into a hole in the first inning with that grand slam," Minster coach Robb Hemmelgarn said. "Against a good team you can't do that. We fought until the end, but we just ran out of innings."

Third-ranked Mechanicsburg (20-3) advances to its first-ever state tournament. Top-ranked Minster (27-2) was denied its first trip to Akron since 2014.

In the first inning, Minster pitcher Jenna Poeppelman had two strikes on leadoff hitter Taylor Hurst but then hit her with a pitch. Then on a sacrifice bunt by Audrey Ayars, Poeppelman threw the ball past first baseman Laney Hemmelgarn, allowing the runners to move into scoring position. Minster went on to get two straight outs. Sandwiched between those outs, coach Hemmelgarn elected to load the bases by walking clean-up hitter Hanna DeLong. And Rodgers made them pay with a grand slam over the center field fence.

The Wildcats had just two hits and two baserunners over the first three innings.

Minster showed some power in the fourth, though.

Poeppelman jumped all over a Francy King offering for a solo home run, her second at regional and eighth of the season. Two at-bats later, Laney Hemmelgarn smacked a solo long ball to left, her third homer of the season, cutting the score to 4-2.

The Indians took a 5-2 lead in the fifth when DeLong hit an RBI single. Mechanicsburg was threatening to break open the game with the bases juiced, but Poeppelman struck out King looking to end the inning.

Mechanicsburg added onto its lead in the seventh, however. DeLong had an RBI double, Kasey Schipfer scored one with a single and King tacked on another with a fielder's choice.

Minster went down swinging, though.

The hard-throwing Rodgers, only a freshman, pitched a scoreless sixth, but Minster timed her up in the seventh. Emily Stubbs and Mara Schmiesing reached base with one-out singles. Danielle Barhorst got aboard on an error, but Stubbs got caught in a rundown between third and home on the play and was thrown out. Taylor Homan followed with a two-run single, but Rodgers struck out Poeppelman to earn her 12th save.

"I told them to keep your heads up," coach Hemmelgarn said. "It sucks today. It does you feel like it's the worst day in the world, but the sun comes up tomorrow and you're going to look back on this 20 years from now and remember what a remarkable season it was even though it doesn't feel like that today."

Homan and Stubbs each had two hits for Minster.

It was the final game in a Minster uniform for Homan, Poeppelman, Karly Richard, Barhorst and Lindsey Albers, all of whom played important parts in back-to-back MAC championships.

"They were very important to building the culture we have right now," coach Hemmelgarn said. "And this was an important season for that. But an even more important season is next year (and) seeing how those seniors can continue it. We're going to get back to work. Maybe not tomorrow, but we'll keep working here soon. We're going to try to keep building on what we did this season, and at some point we'll be very proud of it."