Saturday, May 14th, 2022
Riders beat Bulldogs to move on
By Dave Stilwell
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
St. Marys' Ashlyn Ross slides in under the throw to Celina's Maddie Whitaker (right) as teammate Samantha Jacobs makes a leaping attempt in the Division II sectional final at K.C. Geiger Park on Friday.
ST. MARYS - For the second time this season the Celina softball team was unable to solve St. Marys pitcher Karsyn McGlothen.
Back in early April, McGlothen hurled a four-hit, 11-strikeout, 7-0 shutout against the Bulldogs in the regular season.
Friday evening in the Division II sectional final at K.C. Geiger Park in St. Marys, McGlothen allowed just three hits and struck out 10 as the Roughriders advanced with a 2-0 victory over Celina.
St. Marys (13-5) advances to the district semifinals to take on Bath on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima. The Wildcats defeated Kenton 17-1 on Friday.
"Playing a team twice is tough any time, and it's Celina, so we figured it was going to be a lot more interesting than the first time around," St. Marys coach Kendra Solomon said. "Karsyn on the mound pretty much got her average number of strikeouts, and other than that, we made the plays when we had to and that was the key."
The Riders got the only run they would need in the bottom of the second inning. Ashlyn Ross drew a one-out walk off Celina starter Paige Kuehne and stole second. After a walk to Cadence Hirschfeld, Morgan Hirschfeld singled to left to load the bases.
Kuehne got a strikeout, but a hard-hit ball off the bat of Kelly Holsinger ricocheted off the glove of the Celina shortstop, allowing Ross to score from third. Kuehne then got a groundout to get out of the inning without further damage.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
St. Marys' players greet Karsyn McGlothen at home plate after her home run in the Division II sectional final at K.C. Geiger Field on Friday.
St. Marys added an insurance run in the third when McGlothen helped her own cause with a towering one-out solo home run over the fence in center field.
Celina threatened in the second after Hailey Shaffer led off the inning by reaching on a two-base throwing error. Carly Hathaway was hit by a pitch attempting to bunt, and both runners advanced into scoring position on a passed ball.
However, McGlothen got the next two batters to pop-up in the infield and struck out the third to escape the inning unscathed, then sat down 15 of the next 16 Bulldog batters before running into a jam to open the seventh.
Schaffer reached on an error to open the inning, followed by a single by Hathaway to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with no outs. But McGlothen was again equal to the task, sandwiching a fielders choice around two strikeouts to close out the victory.
"Even when we got runners on base, it just felt like it was with two outs," Celina coach Jason Tribolet said. "And we just couldn't find that little chip hit or solid contact, but we faced, if not the best pitcher in the league, then one of the top two for sure, and all credit goes to her."
After giving up the home run in the third, Kuehne sat down 11 of the next 14 batters she faced. Kuehne gave up five hits and struck out six in taking the loss.
"Paige came into her own about two weeks ago," Tribolet said. "You can tell something clicked, she found something, and she threw well tonight."
St. Marys has had an up-and-down season, and Solomon said the key to the second season is continuous improvement.
"It's improving every day. That's what our focus has been on all season," she said. "A couple weeks ago we dealt with three different injuries, and we were moving people around, but we're try to focus on the little things now, doing your job and improving."
The Bulldogs finish the season at 6-13, with the majority of the wins coming in the second half of the season, which gives Tribolet some momentum heading into the offseason.
"The seniors did a great job of leading this team," he said. "We're going to miss them dearly, but we've got nine juniors to step up. We told them in the huddle out there that about two-thirds of the way through the year we started to hum, and next year we're going to need that at the start of the season instead of game 20."
