Indians secure first win

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Fort Recovery softball at Memorial (3/28/2024)

ST MARYS, Ohio — The Indians had an early opportunity to score.

The Roughriders not only shut it down, but then cashed for themselves.

The Indians were deflated until a home run from Kayla Heitkamp, and then everything started to click.

After falling behind early, the Fort Recovery High School softball team’s defense picked up as the bats did their job to escape with its first win of the year — a 5-3 victory over the host Memorial Roughriders on Thursday.

“The girls did a great job today,” FRHS coach Carrie Schoen said. “They battled every inning. Everybody had kind of a little piece of that whole win, so super proud of everyone.”

After missing its opportunity and trailing 1-0 after the first inning, Fort Recovery started the second inning flat. Adyson Van De Keere only needed eight pitches to strike out the first two batters and got two quick strikes on Heitkamp. With an 0-2 count, Heitkamp hit a blast that cleared the left-field fence to tie the game up and lift the mood.

“I had two strikes on me, so I was trying to protect the plate but got a perfect pitch,” Heitkamp said. “It felt great. I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get good at bats and it’s good to see the progress that I’ve made.

“I think that gave us confidence that we could hit off of the pitcher and you just have to believe in yourself.”

With the game tied, the Indians’ defense stepped up, not committing another error the entire game. Over the other six innings, Tebbe only gave up four hits and three walks that amounted to two runs. She only faced four batters in the second and third innings and retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth inning.

“I just understood what they didn’t like and what they wanted to hit,” Tebbe said. “Some didn’t like riseballs so that’s what they got. Others didn’t like it inside so I focused on the inside and that really got them.”

Two of the first three batters for FRHS (1-1) reached base in the game. With only one out, Kylie Post hit a ground ball to second base to advance the runners, but the inning ended with Jenna Homan grounding out to the pitcher.

Memorial took advantage to strike first in the bottom of the inning.

Makenzie Henning reached base on a first-pitch bunt that she beat out. She took off for second base during the next at bat, and Post’s throw down sailed high, allowing Henning to come all the way around to score.

The Roughriders continued to put pressure on Indians’ pitcher Brittney Tebbe, but finished the inning with only one run.

Indians junior Kayla Heitkamp smiles as she returns to the dugout after hitting a home run against Memorial in Thursday’s 5-3 win. Heitkamp’s home run tied the game at 1-1 and provided the Indians with energy. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

The only other Memorial scores came in the fourth inning. Cadence Hirschfeld led off with a walk and advanced on a bunt, a wild pitch and a groundout to score. A home run from Ava Klosterman tied the game at 3-3.

While the Indians’ defense succeeded, Memorial struggled on that side of the ball, giving up three errors, both of which led to runs eventually crossing the plate.

“Errors just impacted that game way too much,” said MHS coach Kendra Solomon. “It was frustrating for the girls and frustrating for all of us for that to be the factor that made the difference in that game.”

Along with the errors, FRHS got good offensive production out of Emma Will and Ella Schoen, as the duo accounted for the scoring in the third, fifth and seventh innings.

In the third, Will led off with a single to center before stealing second base. Two batters later, Schoen hit a hard ground ball to Hirschfeld at shortstop that was bobbled and thrown away to allow Will to score. She later scored on an error by Shadrach.

In the fifth, Will reached first on an error before Schoen’s single drove her in.

The seventh inning featured both hitting singles (and Will stealing second before Schoen’s at bat) to score.

“Those were huge,” Carrie Schoen said. “Anytime we can get Emma Will on the basepaths and get her moving helps us tremendously.”

Tebbe earned the win, giving up three runs — two earned.

Van De Keere suffered the loss with six hits that led to five runs, only two of which were earned.

Klosterman powered the Roughriders’ offense, going 3-for-3 with the home run.

Ella Schoen led in RBIs with two while Emma Will led with three hits and three runs.