One thing that has to be in every scouting report on Elmwood’s softball team is — don’t give the Royals
extra outs.
The Royals took advantage of five walks and five errors to down Lake, 7-1, in a Division III district
semifinal at Bowling Green High School Tuesday. The next tournament action for Elmwood, 19-4 overall, is
scheduled for Friday at BGHS in the district final against the Patrick Henry-Woodmore winner. Game time
is 5 p.m.
“I told them to get up there and watch some pitches to make sure we’re going to get back into the swing
of things,” Elmwood head coach Matt Hoiles said. The Royals had not practiced or seen any live pitching
since last Friday’s rain-shortened game against Woodmore. “It actually worked out in our favor. We’re a
good hitting team and a smart team. Sometimes they show it and today they did.”
After Lake had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on McKenzie Whiteman’s RBI single, Elmwood
sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first, scoring four runs. The Royals took advantage of
four walks and an error in the bottom of the first.
With one out, Elmwood drew three straight walks. Marissa Lee followed with a double into the right-center
field gap to score two runs. The hit was very similar to Lee’s two-run double in the top of the seventh
inning last Wednesday against Lake, a hit which provided the winning runs in Elmwood’s 5-3
regular-season win.
“It was a little deja vu from last Wednesday,” Hoiles said about Lee. “When you’re a senior and you have
the bases loaded when you come up, it’s your job (to drive in runs). She’s hitting a pretty good stick
right now.
“That was big for her, momentum-wise on the mound,” Hoiles added.
Sierra Beckford’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1 and Ragan Yarnell’s single made it 4-1.
“I’ve said for years … You can’t give them extra opportunities,” Lake head coach Dave Rymers said. “You
can’t give them that many free bases and not expect the score to end up the way it does.
“Elmwood’s a fantastic hitting team and they don’t need any more opportunities to hit the ball around and
have base runners on for them … They played a little more comfortable with a three-run lead.”
Elmwood scored three more runs in the fifth inning. Whitney Stiff’s double scored two runs and knocked
Lake starting pitcher Lauren Densic out of the game. The Royals final run scored on an error.
Lake, 14-7, had numerous chances to score, leaving 10 runners on base, including runners in six of the
seven innings. The Flyers had three straight hits with two out in the first, but scored only once. Lake
got two hits in the fourth inning, but had a runner throw out attempting to steal, and two more hits in
the sixth, but could not generate the run-scoring hit.
Whiteman and Hillary West each finished with two hits for Lake. Lee allowed eight hits, walking two and
striking out five.
“In this weather, it’s hard (to pitch). You’re constantly changing ball. It’s hard to get that grip,”
Hoiles said. “Her (Lee’s) change-up was working real nice.”
Lee and Yarnell each had two hits for Elmwood. Densic went the first three innings and Courtney Kranz
pitched the final three, allowing one hit while walking one and striking out one.
Lake’s Megan Schnell was the defensive player of the game. Of Elmwood’s 18 outs, the third baseman had
eight assists and two putouts. Her diving stop and throw from one knee to get Beckford for the final out
of the fourth was web gem quality.
“In a losing effort that was an incredible individual effort,” Rymers said. “I know that she’ll walk away
and she’ll tell you it was one of the worst games she played because she went 1-for-4 at the plate.
She’s very hard on herself and that’s what makes her as good as she is.
“It would have been nice to see everyone in a Lake Flyer uniform play as hard as she did tonight.”
SOFTBALL
DIVISION III
ELMWOOD 7, LAKE 1
LAKE 100 000 0—1 8 5
ELMWOOD 400 300 X—7 8 2
BATTING LEADERS
HITS —(L) M. Whiteman 2, West 2, Mannon, Brittenham, Griffey, Schnell; (E) Lee 2, Yarnell 2, Bottesch,
Morgan Arnold, Striff, Beckford. 2B — (E) Striff, Lee. RUNS — (L) Schnell; (E) Hillard 2, Bottesch 2,
Striff 2, Vargas, RBI — (L) M. Whiteman; (E) Striff 2, Lee 2, Barringer, Beckford, Yarnell. SB —(L)
Lowe, Schnell; (E) Barringer. SAC FLY — (E) Beckford. HBP —(L) Brittenham (by Lee). LOB — Lake 10.
Elmwood 8.
PITCHING SUMMARY
IP H R ER BB SO
Lake
Densic (LP) 3
7 7 5 5 1
Kranz 3 1 0 0 1 1
(Densic faced three batters in the fourth inning)
Elmwood
Lee (WP) 7 8 1 1 2 5