It was a close match for these very similar teams, but Wayne Trace pulled off the win.
2014 Softball Regional Champions – Wayne Trace
Following the Regional semi-final win against New Riegel, the Wayne Trace Raiders took on the Lakota Raiders at the Findlay Marathon Diamonds on Saturday, May 31 at noon. The last time the Raiders made it this far was in 2010 but they were defeated in the final game by New Riegel.
The home team (Wayne Trace) went into this game not having a perfect record and may be this was for the better. The ladies knew this would be a difficult game, especially at this level in the tournament. Would they be able to play at the level of their opponent at this stage of the tournament?
Libby Stabler gets the first hit of the game.
Libby goes on to score the first run.
The game started with Addison Baumle striking out two of the other Raider starters in the first inning. This inning was the period that made the difference for the entire game. In the bottom of the first, with two outs on the board, Wayne Trace’s Libby Stabler got the first hit and scored the first run. Bailey Bergman got the second hit and run. It looked like Wayne Trace was going to run away with this. Lakota called a timeout in the game for a talk with the players and it must have helped. No more runs were given up to Wayne Trace.
Up to the seventh inning the scores held steady at 2-0. Lakota scored in the seventh with another runner on third poised to score again. The Wayne Trace defense caught the ball in right field finishing the inning and the game finished 2-1 in this close match and the home team didn’t go to bat in the last inning.
The Lakota Lady Raiders finished their season 20-8 and were sad to be sent home with the runner-up trophy.
This is the third time Wayne Trace had been to the Regional Championship game. In 2010 Marcie McDougle was the Raider pitcher but they didn’t make it past the final game. She was here this year cheering on her predecessors as they continued and pushed further, winning their first Softball Regional Championship ever! These girls are excited to move on to the Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio in Division IV on Friday, June 6 at 10am for the State Semi-Final game.
Emilie Linder hits the ball but is out at first.
Reminders of the football team going to state, Boys Basketball at Regionals, and now softball prove this is some of the best athletes Wayne Trace has ever had.
Coach Jack Baumle said these girls certainly deserved it, “We started well today but our batting lost it after the first inning. Luckily our defense and pitching held strong.” Addison, with an amazing nine strikeouts, stated, “We proved we can do this. We’ve been looked down on, but we proved it!”
Score by Innings:
Lakota 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 1 run, 5 hits, 1 error
Wayne Trace 2 0 0 0 0 0 x = 2 runs, 7 hits, 2 errors
Winning Pitcher – Addison Baumle (7 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 9 strikeouts, 1 walk
Losing Pitcher – Morgan Gangwer (6 innings, 7 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 3 strikeouts, 0 walks
Wayne Trace Hitters – Brenda Feasby (two singles), Libby Stabler (two singles, run), Bailey Bergman (single, run), Carley Wright (single, RBI), Addison Baumle (single, RBI)
Lakota Hitters – Nikkia Cooper (single, double, RBI), Alaina Bickford
(single), Destiney Long-Myer (single), Brianna Ray (single, RBI).
