Rain but no delay

FORT RECOVERY — The Tribe had an awfully slow start with the sticks in the first game of the postseason.

A strong showing by Jenna Homan in the circle before they broke through in the fourth.

Right as the ball got rolling for the Indians, thunder threatened to ruin their night with a 30-minute delay that got extended twice. Even worse than the delays was the potential postponement after an outburst of rain completely flooded the field.

While the Indians didn’t get to celebrate the victory after recording the third out of the seventh inning, there were still plenty of cheers to go around when coach Carrie Schoen brought back the good news to the dugout that the game was complete and the Indians will be moving on.

Despite only getting through the top of the sixth inning, the coaches of the fifth-seeded Fort Recovery High School softball team and No. 8 seed Preble Shawnee elected to conclude the OHSAA Division VI Southwest 2 sectional final, rather than force the Arrows to make the 1 hour, 15 minute, trip north for five outs, giving the Tribe a 4-0 victory.

The win advances the Indians to the district opener, which will be held on May 20 at 5 p.m., against the winner of second-seeded Tri-County North and No. 12 seed Troy Christian. (A location for the game will be determined after a majority of the Southwest District field is set.)

“It feels good to get that first tournament win,” said Schoen. “We got that first one done and moved onto the next, which is always great because every game counts when it comes to the tournament.”

The Indians (14-9) didn’t have their best start as PSHS pitcher Mattie Colburn retired the first six batters without a ton of trouble. They finally got a runner in the third inning as shortstop Adalynn Campbell let a ball through the infield, but the Indians couldn’t find a way to score.

“We’ve been such a slow start lately, from an offensive standpoint,” Schoen said. “Overall, if you look at our stats, our kids are very sound offensively through our order for the most part. … We were struggling with that inside pitch, so she was jamming us inside. She would mix in some change ups here and there so it was kind of getting us.”

The Tribe finally figured things out in the fourth inning.

Ava Grisez led off the inning with the team’s first hit, pushing a ball back up the middle. Two pitches later, Homan sent a ball to deep left field out of Layla Roberts’ range for a double. In the third at bat, Ella Schoen nearly drove in the first run of the game, but Homan was called for interference as Campbell attempted to field the ball, resulting in Ava Grisez getting pulled back to third base.

Ella Schoen stole second base on the first pitch of Alexis Grisez’s at bat to get two runners back in scoring position. The sophomore first baseman watched a second ball come in before breaking the scoreless tie with a two-RBI single on a ground ball up the middle.

“I was able to just hit a solid grounder and just drive them in,” Alexis Grisez said. “I was hoping to just not get out honestly and get some ground. … It was really nice to get that breather there and know we had some room to work with.”

Fort Recovery plated two more runs in the fifth inning. Emma Will and Ava Grisez hit back-to-back doubles to score the first run. Homan immediately followed up with a single to left field that pushed the second across.

Along with driving in a run, Homan played a major role on the rubber for the Tribe. The FRHS junior pitched all six innings without giving up a run to Preble Shawnee (6-14). She issued one walk in the fifth inning that didn’t end up biting her and surrendered one hit on a singing bunt by Roberts that found no-man’s land between the circle and third base. Fort Recovery’s all-time leader in strikeouts – she overtook her sister, Jackie Homan’s record on Saturday in the Covington Classic – sent 11 Arrows back to the bench without getting a bat on the ball.

“I just have to remember that this could possibly be the senior’s last game,” Homan said. “I’m using that to build the momentum to pitch as hard as I possibly can and work hard for it.”

Photo Gallery

Fort Recovery softball sectional final vs. Preble Shawnee (5/13/2025)

The Indians’ defense backed Homan up as the seven times the ball was put in play and an out was possible they delivered. Homan had one ball hit back to herself that she threw out with ease and Ella Schoen fielded a pair at third base including a bunt. A pair of balls got sent the way of Layla Armstrong at second base four two outs and Alexis Grisez had to field two balls and tag the batters out as they made their way up the line.

The game got delayed with one out and a runner on first base in the bottom half of the sixth inning due to the sound of thunder in the area. Thunder sounded twice more, restarting the 30-minute delay before it started to downpour, flooding the field.

In a meeting with the umpires, Schoen and PSHS coach Abbie Lynch needed to decide continue the game later or call it complete. They settled on the latter.

“Knowing we’ve had slow starts recently, making sure that this game was a complete game was pretty important to me in honestly when we had that coaches meeting with the umpires,” Schoen said. “The ball was in our court in that point in time. We were on offense, with one out and a runner on ... and we just needed three outs. My hope was that she wasn’t going to want to continue to play this, because if they come back tomorrow and we had that possible slow start again, it may have looked different.”