From todays Athens Messenger........
Buckeyes upset Bulldogs in TVC opener
By JASON ARKLEY
Messenger staff writer
Published: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 9:32 AM EDT
“We’re undefeated!†screamed somebody from behind the backstop.
The Buckeyes answered with ear-ringing scream from their impromptu huddle around home plate.
The Nelsonville-York High School softball team had reason to be loud and proud on Tuesday. The Buckeyes, winless in 2008, opened 2009 with a rousing 4-2 win in 10 innings to stun Athens — which was making its Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division debut. “Wow, this is awesome. They deserve this, they really do,†said second-year Nelsonville-York coach Christy Hook. “I’ve told them they’ve had it in them all along to do it, and they did it.â€
The Buckeyes (1-0, 1-0 TVC) survived a dominating effort by Athens pitcher Jayne Seymour, and won the game in extra innings. With two outs, Rose Nerponi broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th with an RBI double to left-center field off Bulldogs’ reliever Cara Detty. Lauren Bunting, who had reached on a walk, scored the go-ahead run. Nerponi advanced to third on an error, and then scored an insurance run on a wild pitch for the two-run lead.
In the bottom of the 10th, Athens’ Anna Pomento crushed a two-out double, but was left stranded when Raven Cline’s liner to center was snagged for the final out.
Athens (0-1, 0-1 TVC) had seven hits, but had several other hard-hit balls result in outs as the Buckeyes turned in several nice plays in the field. Cline, 0-for-5 on the day, had particularly tough luck; all five of her outs were line-drives, loopers to the outfield grass, or long drives deep.
“I’d like to say we were unlucky, but it’s not fair to say that when Nelsonville played a great ballgame, and good enough to win,†said Athens coach Sheila Ross. “They made all the plays. We hit the ball hard. But we hit it at them.â€
Chelsey Martin grinded through all 10 innings to earn the pitching victory for the Buckeyes. She didn’t have a strikeout or a 1-2-3 inning, but did enough to shut out Athens over the final six innings.
Detty took the loss for Athens, giving up two runs in the 10th. She took over for Seymour, who allowed just three hits and three walks over the first nine innings. Seymour also racked up a whopping 18 strikeouts, and fanned the side in four different innings.
Athens scored the game’s first two runs. Sara Swaim reached on lead-off single in the third, moved to second on a sacrifice, and then scored on an N-Y throwing error. In the fourth, Seymour reached on a one-out walk, moved to second on a passed ball, and then to third on a sacrifice. Seymour made it 2-0 when she later scored on a wild pitch.
The Buckeyes didn’t fold, and instead found a way scrape up two runs in the sixth to tie it. Bunting led off with a walk. Nerponi ripped a single, and the runners ended up on second and third after a throwing errors. Run-scoring ground outs by Monica Mourn and then Jetty Richards knotted the game 2-2.
Nerponi paced Nelsonville-York with three hits, a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Anna Pomento was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles for Athens, and Katie Clark added two hits.
It was a huge win for the Buckeyes. For Ross, it was a head-scratching loss. Her team had no strikeouts, more hits and her pitcher collected a total of 20 strikeouts.
But, Nelsonville-York didn’t buckle.
“They did the right things,†Ross said. “They made the plays when they had to.â€
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Nels-York 000 002 000 2 4-4-4
Athens 001 100 000 0 2-7-4
Chelsey Martin and Jetty Richards.
Jayne Seymour, Cara Detty (10) and Anna Pomento.
WP — Martin; LP — Detty.
