FR earns second chance

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians hit the ball well in their first trip through the order, but ended up with nothing to show for it.

When they got their second swings, they made sure that didn’t happen again.

In doing so, they earned a second chance against the Lancers.

Fort Recovery High School’s softball team exploded for a nine-run third inning Tuesday night en route to handing the visiting Ridgemont Golden Gophers an 11-2 defeat in the opening round of the sectional tournament.

The Indians advance to play Lincolnview, a team they lost to 4-3 April 17 at Celina, for the sectional title Thursday.

“We had some pop-ups early in the game, and we just couldn’t get her timed up. We were getting under it,” said Fort Recovery coach Ryan Thien. “Then we actually placed a few hits off of those pop-ups, and then it started to flow.”

Fifth-seeded FRHS (17-9) recorded four hits in the first two innings and every out it made came when a ball was hit to the outfield. But it stranded three runners and was still stuck in a scoreless tie.

The Indians changed that in a big way in the bottom of the third inning. Brenna Homan led off with her second single of the game, starting a stretch of six consecutive batters to reach base.

After Homan stole second base, Chloey Grisez drove her in with a single to left field. Jackie Homan reached base on an error, and then Sophie Pearson and Maddie Guggenbiller connected on back-to-back doubles to right-center field — Guggenbiller’s shot was less than 2 feet from clearing the fence — to push the advantage to 4-0. Bailey Tebbe added a single before Ridgemont pitcher Whitney Bailey finally recorded her first out.

Cali Wendel added a double, and back-to-back singles from Kensey Gaerke and Brenna Homan made it 8-0. Brenna Homan would complete the nine-run frame when she stole second base and then scored on the Golden Gophers’ fourth error.

“We’ve been playing with a couple of new ones toward the end — lots of injuries this year — so I didn’t quite know how it was going to go,” said Ridgemont coach Kim Bailey, noting several injuries. “As soon as they started hitting those holes, it bit us hard. I did see the girls’ heads kind of drop, but yet they came out here still, they were hitting the ball still …”

The seventh-seeded Golden Gophers (10-9) strung together three consecutive hits for two runs in the top of the fourth inning, but never seriously challenged the Indians. Fort Recovery tacked on two more runs — both unearned — in the bottom of the fifth for the final margin.

Brenna Homan, who caught a pop-up to end the final home game of her career, finished 4-for-4 with three runs, two RBIs and two stolen bases to lead the Indians. Homan broke the Midwest Athletic Conference record for career steals with 85 and counting. She passed Parkway’s Holly Ransbottom.

Cali Wendel followed with three hits, including a double, and a run, and Guggenbiller was 2-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs and a run.

“That’s pretty standard. That’s a standard line for her,” said Thien of Brenna Homan, the catcher who also picked Ridgemont’s Nikki Freshcorn off third base in the fourth inning. “I think she had a slump where she dropped down to like .550. You can always count on her to get on base and set the tone for the game.”

“She needed that,” he added of Guggenbiller’s effort. “We’ve got to get her confidence built back up. She was slumping a little bit, but I think between Saturday and today, we’ve got it back.”

Jackie Homan kept the Golden Gophers mostly quiet, sitting them down in order in the first, third (all strikeouts) and seventh innings. She totaled 10 strikeouts in the victory.

The Indians, who have now won six in a row, still have a busy week ahead. Next up is the rematch Thursday against Lincolnview, followed by a visit Saturday to Minster with a share of the MAC title on the line.

“That was one of those games where if we had gotten a hit here or made one more defensive play, we could have won that game 4-3,” said Thien, looking back on his team’s first meeting with Lincolnview. “So I’m pretty excited going into that game.”