Perrysburg third baseman Alyssa Bradford tracks a pop fly against Anthony Wayne in Friday’s Division I regional final at Clyde’s Joe Wilson Field. (Nicholas Huenefeld | Sentinel-Tribune)
By Nicholas Huenefeld
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
CLYDE — The Perrysburg softball team’s postseason run came to an end on Friday in a 9-1 loss to Anthony Wayne in a Division I regional final at Joe Wilson Field.
“Anthony Wayne’s got great pitching,” Perrysburg coach Ryan DeMars said. “We knew that going in, so we knew that we were going to have to, you know, do a really great job with our pitch selection and grinding out hits.
“Obviously, we weren’t able to do that, and that’s just a credit to Anthony Wayne’s pitchers and what they’re able to do and the quality of their team.”
The third-ranked Generals (29-1) combined to score all of their runs over the fourth and fifth innings off the Perrysburg pitching combo of Maison Gerrard and Maddie Von Sacken.
The game was scoreless through three and a half innings in large part to a diving catch in the third inning from Perrysburg shortstop, Hayley Griggs, who dove to catch a line drive in the hole to her right with a runner on second and one out.
Moments later, with one out and nobody on in the fourth, Anthony Wayne’s Trinity Nowicki doubled, and back-to-back infield singles loaded the bases for Gabi Nowicki, who lofted a sacrifice fly to Ella Leonard in left for the game’s first run.
After both runners advanced on the sacrifice fly, Piper Phillips lofted a soft line drive into right field, just over the outstretched glove of Perrysburg’s second baseman Morgan Hoverman for a two-run single and a 3-0 lead.
A two-out RBI double from Griggs in the fifth scored Alyssa Bradford, who drew a walk from Anthony Wayne’s Kat Meyers two batters earlier.
Had Perrysburg (26-5) been able to corral that two-run single one inning earlier, the game would have been tied at one apiece and Anthony Wayne’s momentum perhaps could have been different.
“They say softball is a game of inches,” DeMars said. “I definitely think had we been able to make another play here or there that, you know, maybe it changes things a little bit. But again, we only scored the one run, and they’ve got that outstanding pitching.
“So, it would have definitely been a battle. I would have liked to have, you know, seen us make a few more plays. But again, Anthony Wayne just did a great job, and I’m glad our girls kept fighting and kept working, and they’ve got a ton to be proud of.”
DeMars went to Von Sacken to start the fifth, and Anthony Wayne opened with five straight hits off her before Gerrard re-entered. Once the dust settled, the Generals added six more runs and led 9-1.
In the sixth, eighth-ranked Perrysburg nearly added on to their run tally as Gerrard doubled and Jessica Miller was intentionally walked for the second time in the game.
With one out and runners on second and third, Hoverman sent a low line drive to Essence Dobbelaere-Buchman in center, who caught it and kept running forward to tag second base for the inning-ending double play.
“It’s always tough when you lose that last game and the season’s over, and it’s not the outcome you want,” DeMars said. “But, you know, they have a ton to be proud of. They had a great season. They are regional finalists, and that doesn’t happen to most teams.
“Even in Perrysburg’s rich softball history, it has not happened a ton of times. And this group is one of the groups that’s able to say, hey, we were in the regional finals. It was just an outstanding effort on their part, a great season, just a great group of kids to coach.”
Meyers, who pitched the first five innings for Anthony Wayne, struck out 11 more batters and pushed her termination total to 27 in the regional tournament.
The defending state runner-up Generals will now return to the state tournament for the third time in four seasons, where they will face second-ranked Pataskala Watkins Memorial in the Division I state semifinal on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Akron’s Firestone Stadium.
Meanwhile, Perrysburg bids farewell to a very successful senior class, including Gerrard, Leonard and Miller.
“They were just outstanding,” DeMars said. “They came in, they all played as freshmen, and they just went to work. And they were such a joy to coach over the years. I’m just really proud of all the work that they put in and everything that they’ve been able to accomplish.”
