GENOA — The Eastwood softball team soared over Genoa on Monday afternoon, 5-0, to claim an outright Northern Buckeye Conference title.
Eastwood improved to a 26-4 record overall for the season and finished 12-2 in the league.
It was redemption for Eastwood, which fell to Tinora in a Division III district semifinal Saturday afternoon, 14-4.
Both the coaches and the players were proud to get over their hurdles Monday afternoon to secure the conference title over Genoa (14-11).
“The way we got beat Saturday, it’s tough,” Eastwood coach Joe Wyant said. “But the girls gritted it out and then when it got closer to them, we finally put it together against the pitcher of the year in our league.”
Lilly Escobedo said, “We didn’t have the best game Saturday, but we bounced back (today) and it was a good win.”
Genoa kept it close with Eastwood in the first five innings, holding the Eagles to only one run until the sixth inning.
“We’ve just got to get over the hill with Eastwood. We didn’t put anything together again and struggle every time we play Eastwood,” Genoa coach Troy Suser said.
“The girls have gotten over almost every hurdle that we faced. That’s going to be one of our goals for next year for sure.”
The Eagles began to soar in the seventh inning, scoring their final three runs of the game and holding off Genoa’s batters to secure the shutout victory.
Pitching efforts for both teams today include Genoa’s Kaylia Shields and Eastwood’s Cassi Kieper, who got the win.
