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Minster's Hannah Oldiges hits a double in the second inning against Tri-Village.
CLAYTON - For the first time in 10 years, Minster is heading to the softball state tournament.
The Wildcats had to survive a fifth-inning rally by Tri-Village, but Hailee Albers put them ahead for good in the sixth and Brooklyn Osterloh shut out the Patriots in the final two innings to finish a 5-3 win in the Division IV regional final at Northmont on Friday.
Now the Wildcats get to face Strasburg-Franklin (29-3), the two-time defending Division IV state champion, in the state semifinals in Akron at 10 a.m. Thursday. The Tigers beat Portsmouth Mount Notre Dame 6-3 in a regional final at Pickerington Central.
"It's something new to us," Minster coach Robb Hemmelgarn said. "I've not been to that level before. There's going to be a lot of hoopla, a lot of distraction.
"I want to make sure that we're not there to be spectators," he went on. "We've still got two games left, and we're expecting to give each team everything we've got. We're going to be a handful for everybody we see."
Addi Inskeep hit a solo home run with two outs in the third to put Minster (29-1) up 2-0, but then the Patriots' bats started to come to life. No. 9 hitter Macy Howell hit a slow ground ball down the third base line for an infield single, Tie Mize hit a soft line drive that fell in front of shortstop Reece Albers for another single, and Emma Greer snuck a grounder past first baseman Mikaela Hoskins to load the bases.
Minster first baseman Mikaela Hoskins stretches for a throw from third base in the second inning against Tri-Village.
Howell was halfway around third on Greer's hit, but right fielder Emma Linn charged the ball and came up firing, forcing her to retreat to third, and Osterloh got Kiersten Wilcox to ground out to Addi Inskeep at third to end the inning.
But Tri-Village (23-2) kept the momentum going in the fourth, as Camryn Osborne crushed a leadoff homer off the scoreboard in right-center field to halve the deficit. In the fifth, Airiana Baker led off with a single to left-center, moved to second on a bunt, and survived a rundown to take third.
Mize then singled into right to tie the game. Greer worked a five-pitch walk, and after a flyout, Osborne laced a single to right to score Mize and make it 3-2.
"She had a couple innings there, the heat gets to you a little bit, and it's a high-pressure game," Hemmelgarn said of his pitcher. "But she fought like a bulldog all the way through to the end."
Minster wasted no time answering in the top of the sixth. Hannah Oldiges smoked a grounder up the third base line and settled for a single, and Emma Linn hit an almost identical shot that went into the corner for a double as courtesy runner Whitney Trego went to third.
Hailee Albers then hit a line drive over a leaping Mize at second base, scoring both runners to put the Wildcats back in front.
Minster's Whitney Trego (center) and Emma Linn are congratulated by Alayna Prenger after scoring the tying and go-ahead runs in the sixth inning of the Division IV regional final against Tri-Village at Northmont on Friday.
"She's earned everything she's gotten," Hemmelgarn said. "She's a hard worker out there for us. She's putting balls in play, and she had those hero moments tonight. It can start anywhere in our lineup, and I'll take any of them at any time."
That rally came to an abrupt end after reliever Greer took over in the circle, as catcher Hailey Burk got a pickoff at first as Osterloh struck out. Alayna Prenger hit a single, but then Reece Albers struck out to end the inning.
In the seventh, Rylin Trego battled through an eight-pitch at-bat and singled to right, and Inskeep reached on a fielder's choice and stole second. Hoskins then hit a sharp grounder near Osborne at short, but Osborne seemed to be distracted by Inskeep and couldn't make a play as the ball went into left field and Inskeep raced home.
Osterloh, who worked around a two-out hit-by-pitch in the sixth, came back out for the seventh and promptly walked Mize on four pitches. Greer hit a fly ball to deep center, and Osterloh got Wilcox to chase strike three to bring up Osborne again with two outs.
Osterloh missed her first pitch, but got Osborne to swing through the next three. The last of those, though, was ruled a foul, forcing her to make one more pitch.
Her next pitch went right through the heart of the plate for strike three to end the game.
"I said, 'We might want to put her on,' but then Brooklyn had this look in her eye," Hemmelgarn said. "Brooklyn don't like to put runners on. I was like, 'I'm not going to want to answer to Brooklyn after this game,' so I said, 'All right, go at her.' She went at her and got two early strikes on her, which was huge."
Oldiges, Linn, Hailee Albers and Alayna Prenger had two hits apiece.
Oldiges got the Wildcats started with a leadoff double in the second and came home on Albers' single to right.
"We were able to breathe a little bit then," Hemmelgarn said. "We knew we could time it up and hit with them. It was just a matter of us getting that opportunity, and we got them when we needed to."
