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»RELATED: Multiple qualifiers boost district-champ WLS girls
West Liberty-Salem (21-2, ranked No. 8 in the final coaches state poll) takes on Richwood North Union (23-2, No. 3) at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The winner returns noon Saturday for the regional championship and a spot in the state semifinals.
“We definitely feel better this year,” WL-S coach Kenleigh Farris said of her team, which lost 4-2 to Columbus Bishop Ready in last season’s regional semis. “They are are lot more relaxed and excited. There’s not so much nervousness, just a good energy. Hopefully that continues going into Wednesday.”
Against Milton-Union in the sectional final, WL-S scored six runs in the first inning for the 9-5 victory. Against Middletown Madison in the district final, WL-S scored four runs in the first inning for the 8-3 victory.
It’s a pattern the Tigers hope to follow against the Wildcats.
“We’ve always really emphasized to the girls we want to be the first team to score and to score early and often,” Farris said. “They’ve been taking that to heart. They’ve been doing a good job of coming out aggressively, which we really like. … We really feel confident defensively when we get a good, aggressive lead. The goal is to keep that up.”
Senior catcher Kenedie Cox, the No. 2 hitter in the Tigers’ lineup, leads the team with a .609 average. Junior pitcher and No. 3 hitter Kelsey Day is batting .537 with a team-high 47 runs batted in. Senior center fielder and lead-off hitter Dierdre McGill and senior shortstop and No. 4 hitter Mady Stratton also provide pop to the offense hitting over .350.
“The top part of our lineup is a force to be reckoned with and we’re pretty solid through the rest of our lineup, too,” Farris said.
Should it come to it, WL-S feels confident it can come up clutch this time. In last season’s 4-2 loss in the regional semis, the Tigers had one runner thrown out at home in the top of the seventh and stranded another on third to end the game. A couple of Tigers’ errors also led to two of Ready’s runs.
“That’s something we’ve worked on this year. Just being mentally tough every inning,” Farris said. “That’s something we’ve improved on this year. I think the outcome this year is going to be different for us. It was a hard learning experience. Hopefully we took something away from it and used it for good in the future.”
North Union, hitting .446 as a team, is led by Abby Davis (.600, 46 runs, 35 steals) and Avery Clark (.554, 9 home runs, 57 RBI). Six Wildcats are hitting .420 or better. North Union’s two losses came to D-I Mason and D-II Jonathan Alder, which also play in regional semifinals.
West Liberty-Salem’s two losses have come to West Jefferson and D-II Kenton Ridge. West Jefferson lost to North Union 8-2 in the sectional final, while Kenton Ridge plays in the regional semis.
Day, along with the defense behind her, has the task of slowing down the Wildcats’ bats. Day has a 2.04 ERA and has struck out 125 batters.
“We know it’s going to be really tough from here on out,” Farris said. “We know they’re highly respected by other coaches, but we’re not letting that intimidate us. We’re going in and being ourselves. … We’re going to love them no matter what happens. We just want them to go out and have fun. Play the way they have been. They’re doing a good job. We’re just excited to play and go back to Wright State. We’re just ready for Wednesday to be here.”
Also on Wednesday, fellow Ohio Heritage Conference member Mechanicsburg (19-3, No. 9 in the state) plays Bradford (21-3, No. 10) in the Division IV regional semifinals 5 p.m. at the Greenville Softball Association Fields.
In the D-II regional semis, Kenton Ridge (23-1, No. 2) plays Jonathan Alder (17-5, No. 8) at 5 p.m. at Mason High School. The Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division foes split the regular-season series with KR winning 4-3 and Alder winning 7-6 with both games going extra innings.
“Our OHC North is extremely competitive so we’re lucky that we have our conference to get us ready for the postseason, especially when had a spring like we did where we didn’t play a lot of non-league competition,” Farris said. “This area of softball traditionally does well. We’re glad we’re apart of that. The girls are proud of themselves and want to keep carrying on the tradition of excellence, too.”
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