Walking off with a trophy

COLDWATER - Heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, Coldwater trailed 3-2 against a top pitcher with the bottom of its order coming up.

That wasn't enough to stop the Cavaliers.

Grace Stammen tied the game with an RBI single, then beat a throw from centerfield for the winning run as Coldwater topped Minster 4-3 in a softball game at Lady Cav Diamond on Wednesday.

With the win, the Cavaliers secured the MAC championship, their first since 2008 and first outright title since 2000.

"Championship-caliber game," Coldwater coach Kyle Ahrens said. "Minster's been the class of the league these last couple years, but our kids, they believed they could come back and they did it."

Minster (16-6, 5-1 MAC) stuck with starter Mikaela Hoskins for the seventh, and she got ahead 1-2 on Kendra Clune before Clune battled back for a seven-pitch walk, the first walk of the game for Coldwater (19-2, 7-0 MAC). Avery Knapke sacrificed her over to second, and Hoskins' first pitch to Stammen took a high bounce in front of the plate, rolling over to the Cavaliers' dugout as Clune went to third.

Stammen turned on the next pitch, sending a fast ground ball past a diving Hailee Albers at second base as Clune came home for the tying run. Madison Wendel followed with a ground ball to short, but Lyndi Hemmelgarn, looking for an inning-ending double play, rushed the throw to second and threw it away into centerfield.

"We didn't get the first out, they got a runner on base and moved her over well, and the bad throw that went into centerfield gave them a lot of momentum," Minster coach Robb Hemmelgarn said. "If you give a team momentum in a game like this, that can do a lot, especially a home team."

That brought up Macy Sheffer, who watched two pitches off the plate before smacking a fly ball to right-center. Centerfielder Rylin Trego, who had been shading left, charged the ball and fired home as Stammen rounded third, and although the throw beat Stammen to the plate, it was two feet to the right, and Stammen slid in without a tag.

"It was the bottom of our lineup that was up there," Ahrens said. "It was our seniors, though. Our seniors won us this game: Macy and Grace with big hits in the seventh, Maddie (Sheffer) with a home run. Our seniors, when they were freshmen, we went 0-7 in the league. So to go from that all the way to 7-0 and win the league outright for the first time since 2000, all the credit in the world to our kids."

Minster took the lead in the sixth after Hannah Oldiges led off with a single to left-center and Kaycie Albers followed with a bloop single to right. Wendel, in the circle for Coldwater, induced a bunt popup and a groundout back to the mound before Trego hit a line drive past the second base bag to drive in two runs and make it 3-2.

Hemmelgarn reached on a ground ball that caught Maddie Sheffer the wrong way at third, causing Sheffer to leave with an ankle injury, but Savanah Bergman popped up to shallow right to end the inning.

In the seventh, Hoskins singled to center and Oldiges walked before Wendel got two quick outs to escape unscathed.

"She didn't get rattled either," Ahrens said of Wendel. "She just stuck with it, kept doing her job and believing in her defense behind her, and the defense helped out and made some plays."

Coldwater struck first when Maddie Sheffer sent a 1-1 pitch flying over the left field fence to lead off the second inning, and after Oldiges hit an RBI single in the third to tie it up, Wendel stranded the bases loaded to keep the game at 1-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, Knapke led off with a single and Macy Sheffer drove her in with a line-drive single over second before Hemmelgarn turned a double play to stop the bleeding.

"We didn't finish," coach Hemmelgarn said. "We had the opportunity, and we had a lot of opportunities to put a lot more runs across the plate. We didn't take advantage of that, and we didn't finish them off in the end."

Minster returns to Four Seasons Park today for its MAC finale against Versailles before opening the tournament there on May 12 against the winner of Spencerville and Waynesfield Goshen. Coldwater travels to Wayne Trace today and hosts the Strikeout for Cancer tournament on Saturday before opening the tournament at Lady Cav Diamond on May 13 against the winner of Patrick Henry and Allen East.