Greenville falters in state title game
Green Wave falls to undefeated Lagrange Keystone.
AKRON —
Greenville High School softball fans were down to one hand counting the outs to their second Division II state title Saturday at Akron Firestone Stadium.
The Green Wave had a 2-0 lead on undefeated LaGrange Keystone with one out in the top of the sixth inning when things went off course.
“We had made all the plays,” Greenville coach Jarrod Newland said after his squad dropped a 7-2 decision to finish 29-5. “We were up 2-0; I thought it was a pretty good thing. We were counting down the outs and were down to one hand.”
The ending dampened the on-field graduation ceremony for the six Wave seniors. The seniors donned cap and gown and received their runner-up medals and diplomas in one setting.
“Win, lose or draw, these are the people I wanted to be with,” Greenville pitcher Ashley Hanes said.
Keystone turned a Greenville error into a double with one out before recording back-toback singles to tie the game. When the dust cleared, the Wave had committed two errors and found itself in a 5-2 hole.
“We broke down,” Newland said. “The worst case, we should have been out of the inning with the ball hit to the outfield and up 2-1; worst case, we make the play in the infield and it is 22. But, you can’t dwell on things. We had a couple of kids step up to give us a 2-0 lead against a team that has lost four games in the last three years. I am proud to death of Ashley and Paige (Wolter) and what they have done. That team has seven D-I (college) signees, so they should make adjustments. Bottom line is we booted the ball.”
Greenville had opportunities in the second, third and fourth innings before finally breaking through in the fifth.
Haleigh Luce recorded a one-out double, moved to third on a single by Wolter and scored when Kelly Martin beat the throw to first with a head-first slide after grounding to short. Wolter scored when Martin intentionally got in a rundown between first and second, diving headfirst past the tag at the plate for a 2-0 lead.
“That’s my first run of the year,” said Wolter, a catcher for whom a courtesy runner often is used. “Coach has been telling me I was going to run, and we shook on it before the game. It is all a blur. I told myself I was going in headfirst and getting around the tag. It was awesome.”
Greenville left runners on in the sixth and seventh and Keystone added two more runs in the seventh on one hit and two of Greenville’s six errors.
“Our group has always accepted a challenge and our motto was refuse to lose,” Keystone coach Jim Piazza said. “I told them (after Greenville scored two runs) if they didn’t make some adjustments they were going to blow it and that woke them up and they flipped the switch.”