Get over it

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians took a hard loss to the Wildcats earlier in the week.

They gave up a pair of runs through the first three at bats in the first inning.

Then later, the Tribe made multiple defensive mistakes to nearly blow a six-run lead.

In each instance, the Indians had to just get over it to buck down and get the win.

The Fort Recovery High School softball team weathered a handful of struggles to hold on and beat the Coldwater Cavaliers 9-8 on Thursday.

“The girls were being resilient tonight for sure,” said FRHS coach Carrie Schoen. “We started out a little slow. Had a really good breakout inning on offense, got some comfort with that for sure. Coldwater comes back like a typical MAC team would do. Kudos to them but the girls found a way to just dig deep and be resilient to try and get that win.”

Coldwater (3-10, 0-3 Midwest Athletic Conference) struck first as Dana Zahn drew a walk to lead off the game and quickly came in to score as Avery Knapke drove an 0-2 fastball to left-center field for a triple. Knapke scored during the next at bat on a wild pitch.

The two Cavaliers produced a third run in the top of the second inning as Zahn smacked a single up the middle, stole second base and scored on Knapke’s double down the left field line.

Down 3-0, Fort Recovery’s offense started to come alive a little in the bottom of the second inning when Alexis Grisez hit a fly ball to right field for a single and advanced to second on an error by Ava Doll.

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Fort Recovery softball vs. Coldwater

After Kayla Heitkamp attempted to move Grisez over to third with a bunt, the sophomore stole the bag. Down 1-2 in the count with one out, Heitkamp was just looking to get Grisez in, but in the process blasted a home run to deep left field.

“When I went up, I was eager to hit, and then when she made it to three I was even more eager to get her home,” Heitkamp said. “I was down 1-2, so I knew I wasn’t going to get much, got a changeup and pulled it for a home run.”

The Indians (9-5, 3-1 MAC) claimed the lead the next inning. Layla Armstrong led off with a single to right and  Emma Will smashed a double to deep left to put runners on second and third base. With two outs, Ella Schoen sent a ball to Hailey Stough at shortstop, who mishandled it allowing both runs to score.

FRHS padded its lead with five more runs in the fifth inning. Will led off the inning with another double and two batters later, the second two-run home run of the game came off the bat of Jenna Homan.

Grisez hit a single to left and again reached third after taking second on a passed ball and then stealing the bag. Heitkamp walked before Kylie Post singled to score Grisez. Courtesy runner Courtney Klenke stole second base, and an error by catcher Chloe Frysinger got Heitkamp home. As part of the initial error, Klenke made her way to third and was awarded home after Knapke’s throw from center field sailed out of play.

Homan put out a solid performance, going all seven innings for the Indians while only allowing two earned runs on eight hits. She struck out seven batters in the contest, including her 100th career strikeout that came against Riley Eales to end the fifth frame.

“I took a lot of practice and I’m excited to hit (the 100 strikeout mark),” Homan said. “I knew I was getting pretty close. I didn’t realize I was that close but I knew it was coming. … It was fun.”

CHS struck back in the sixth inning and Homan had to go to work as her defense struggled. She struck out the first two batters, one of which reached base on a dropped third strike and throwing error. The next batter sent a ground ball that second baseman Armstrong had to range to the middle of the field just to snag. The freshman flipped the ball to shortstop Ava Grisez for the force at second base and the second out.

Homan issued a walk before the opposing pitcher, Alivia Klingshirn, doubled to score two runs. The FRHS junior then induced three consecutive ground balls that all were mishandled and allowed two more runs to score. Eales pushed one more run in on a single to right before Homan ended the inning by snagging a line drive Stough belted back at her.