Middlefield, Ohio- The Windham Bombers (4-6) traveled to face the Cardinal Huskies (3-12) in a OHSAA Tournament matchup.
Maggie Grant had full control over Windham tonight, starting off strong with a pair of strikeouts over Quinn Justham and Lexi Goodwin.
The defense behind her helped end the inning. A slow first inning continued as the Huskies came to bat. Following a Kelsi Collins lead off walk the Huskies were retired 1-2-3.
Windham got a pair of 1-out baserunners after Grant hit Libby Inman and Jonni Burnside. But a strike out and line out to Alaina Rupinski ended the frame. Kayleigh Duncan collected the first hit of the night for both sides with a leadoff single in the 2nd. After the next two Huskie batters were sat down, Hanna Hansen was able to send Duncan all the way home on a Bomber error. Justham struck out Shawna Coleman to end the inning but the Huskies led 1-0.
Grant continued to keep Windham in check, besides an error by Collins the Bombers did not threaten the Huskie lead. The aforementioned Collins struck out before Grant drew a walk to get things started for Cardinal. Rylie Leichtman connected for an RBI double, quickly followed up by Morgan Soltis single that scored Leichtman, making the Huskie lead 3-0. The Bomber defense recorded put-outs on groundballs to end the inning.
Maggie Grant struck out the Bombers 1-2-3 in the top of the 4th.
A walk for Casey Koeth in the bottom half was squandered as Hansen grounded into a double play. Coleman would be the final out, going down swinging on strikes.
The Bombers were able to get a run back as Skylar Bailer and Memphys Lough both were hit by a pitch. The run would come off an error from Soltis that allowed Chanyse Jones to reach base safely. Grant is able to pitch her way out of it as Windham cuts the lead down to 2.
The Huskies pummeled the Bombers by plating 7 runs in the 5th. With 1-out Grant scorched a double to left, but would be out advancing to 3rd on Leichtmans single. A seemingly grim end to a promising start was turned around as Soltis reached 2nd an dropped pop fly resulting in Leichtman coming across the plate. Duncan earned a walk, before Rupinski came through with a big two-out, two-run triple. Koeth collected an RBI with an infield single to score Rupinski. A walk issued to Hansen, and an error allowing Coleman to reach safely allowed both Hanses and Koeth scored as the Huskies were now up 9-1. Cardinal batted around back to Collins as she picked up her first hit of the night. Maggie Grant continued to help her own cause with a double as Coleman scored. The Bombers intentionally walked Leichtman, but a bases loaded ground out ended the inning.
An error starts the inning allowing Brielle Jones to reach. Inman´s groundout put Jones at 2nd. Another error from the Huskies brought a run across. Cardinal recorded the 2nd out, but another hit batter loads the bases setting up Justham to collect an RBI with her single to center. Grant worked out of another jam and didn't allow any further damage. A good night at the plate for Duncan continued as she earned her 2nd walk, reaching 2nd on an error and 3rd on Rupinski´s groundout. Mind games from the Huskie baserunner forces the hand of the catcher to make a wild throw that trickles into the outfield bringing home their 11th run of the night. Koeth and Hansen were retired as the Huskies headed to the 7th up by 8.
Goodwin´s ground out got it started off. Za´Nya Henderson got walked, and would come around to score on another error from Cardinal for the 4th run of the night for Windham. Maggie Grant would finish her night by striking out the next two Bomber batters as the Huskies advance into the next round of the OHSAA Tournament.
The Huskie offense drove in 11 runs lead by Maggie Grant, Rylie Leichtman and Alaina Rupinski. Kayleigh Duncan scored 3 runs for Cardinal to boot.
FINAL STATS:
AP: 1-4 R 2RBI
RL: 2-3 2R RBI BB
MG: 2-3 R RBI BB
Grant earned the playoff win, striking out 11, allowing 1 hit over 7 innings pitched.
FINAL STATS:
7IP H 4R BB 5HBP 11K
The Bomber offense was quiet but were able to capitalize on the Huskies errors.
FINAL STATS:
QJ: 1-4 BB
ZH: 0-3 R BB
BJ: 0-4 R
JB: 0-3 R
SB: 0-2 R
Quinn Justham earned the loss tonight, giving up 9 hits, walking 7 Huskie batters and striking out 5.
FINAL STATS: QJ: 6IP 9H 11R 2ER 7BB 5K
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