Where there’s a Will ...

ANNA, Ohio — Emma Will wrote the first few words of the Indians’ district finale story.

Others took their turns with the pen, the leading trading back and forth and high drama unfolding in the seventh inning.

In the end, though, it was Will again who authored the storybook ending.

Will smashed a double to the left-center field wall to secure the fifth-seeded Fort Recovery High School softball team its first district championship 4-3 over the No. 3 seed Riverside Pirates in OHSAA Division VI Southwest 2 at Anna on Friday.

“It feels so good,” said FRHS coach Carrie Schoen. “First time ever to have a district championship under our belts. It’s pretty special.”

The victory earns the Indians (17-9) a trip to their first regional game against No. 1 seed Tri-Village (25-0) at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Bellefontaine.

Will led off the Tribe’s journey to its first district title in multiple ways. Back as a freshman in 2022, she played for the team that made Fort Recovery history by advancing to the district final for the first time before falling to Lincolnview 10-5.

“It’s amazing because freshman year, we lost the district finals,” Will said. “Now being able to redeem ourselves feels amazing.”

Just as she was on the FRHS team to make the district finals, she was the first to score as a senior on Friday. She led off the game with a double that one-hopped the wall in left-center field before stealing third base. Jenna Homan — she earned the win in the circle after throwing all eight innings and giving up one three runs — drove Will in with a sacrifice fly.

Will’s next three at bats weren’t anything special as three ground balls led to two outs and an error. But she made up for it in the final frame.

Riley Dillon secured the first out of the eight inning as she fought back from a 3-0 count to get Kylie Post to ground out to shortstop.

A red-hot Paisley Hart — she poked two singles up the middle and got out on a screaming line drive at Dillon earlier — came to the plate next and found the grass in shallow center for a hit. After Layla Armstrong went down on strikes, Carrie Schoen gave Hart the go sign to take second base and get into scoring position.

“She had a phenomenal game tonight and her bat was so hot,” Carrie Schoen said. “I did give her the steal sign and if she steals the base and gets out we’d still have the top of the order to start off the next inning. So, I felt confident with giving her the steal and she had a good read on it. That was huge.”

The steal came after Will fouled off a pitch and looked at a second strike to go down 0-2. Dillon let a pitch run high as Hart stole the base, setting Will up for a potential walk-off. The senior, who leads Fort Recovery in career hits and runs, delivered with a shot to the same spot as the first inning in deep left-center field to win the Indians the title.

“My last two were grounders straight to people, so that was definitely a goal not to do,” Will said. “It was so surreal. It was such a relieving feeling because it felt so good coming off the bat and I saw (Hart) rounding three and going home.”

Will’s walk-off was only set up by Dillon’s dramatics in the seventh inning.

Riverside (12-10) trailed 3-2 entering the seventh inning, but Dillon blasted her second home run of the game to right field to tie things up on the first at bat. Homan got out of the inning without any further damage, but Fort Recovery was forced to play out the bottom of the inning due to the score.

Will grounded out to third base to start the frame, but an error and a Homan single put the winning run at second base. The first pitch to Ella Schoen skipped off Taylor Dillon’s mitt to allow the runners to move over. RHS coach Andy Phelps then called a mound visit, where he decided to intentionally walk Ella Schoen to load the bases and regain the force out. The gamble worked as Dillon struck out the next two batters to force extra innings.

“I was hoping they’d hit a ground ball, because they’d been hitting a lot of ground balls,” Phelps said. “Riley really stepped up with those two big changeups to strike both of them out. I just told her to keep the ball low and get a ground ball to get out of the inning and it worked.”

Outside of Dillon’s home runs in the fight and seventh innings, the Pirates scored on a pair of doubles by Dillon and Aubree Huston to tie the game 1-1 in the third inning.

The other two Tribe runs came in the fifth as Ella Schoen hit a ball that first baseman Avery Perk failed to catch, allowing Will and Homan to score.