The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
No. 1 Keystone moves on to district final game
Keystone shuts out Holy Name to move onto the district title game on May 16
Keystone pitcher Sydney Campbell pitched 15strikeouts in the Wildcats’, 7-0, win over Holy Name. Keystone will go one to face No. 3Firelands or No. 2Cloverleaf on May 16at LaGrange Community Park.
Even when Keystone’s offense isn’t necessarily clicking on all cylinders, it can always rely on Sydney Campbell.
Coming off her fourth perfect game of the season, a new Lorain County record, the senior Wildcat had some of her best stuff going for her once again as she silenced Holy Name with 15 strikeouts, helping No. 1 ranked Keystone defeat the fifth-seeded Green Wave, 7-0, in a Division II LaGrange district semifinal at LaGrange Community Park on May 14.
Keystone (25-0) advances to face either No. 3 Firelands or No. 2 Cloverleaf on May 16 in the district final at LaGrange Community Park.
Campbell, an Oakland University commit, baffled the Green Wave (1610) lineup early and often with nine strikeouts in the first four innings, mixing in some heat with a few devastating off-speed pitches that left Holy Name guessing through most of the afternoon as she finished with a three-hit complete game shutout.
Campbell credits her teammates for helping her stay sharp inside the circle.
“Me and Autumn (Acord) work a lot at practice,” Campbell said. “Obviously I don’t hit, so every time everyone hits I’m working with Autumn or Madi (Herrington) or one of our other catchers and just making sure that all my pitches are the best they can be so we can keep moving forward.”
The win marks her 60th straight victory, which is the sixth best streak alltime in the nation.
She entered the game with a 0.21 ERA.
“It’s just phenomenal… We are very happy to have Syd, and we have her for five more games and want to continue that for a state championship. But we have to stay focused and take it one day at a time.”
Keystone’s of f ense erupted early as Acord doubled to center in the bottom of the first, followed by tworun shot over the centerfield fence for Shelby Fortune, quickly placing the Wildcats in front, 2-0.
Fortune and the rest of the Wildcats were eager to jump out ahead early on.
“We know that’s a good team and we cannot give them any room to get on top of us,” Fortune said. “We have to make sure that we are disciplined in the batter’s box.”
Fortune went 2-for- 4 with a home run, single and two RBI.
After the two-run blast in the first, Keystone’s offense proceeded to remain patient at the plate as they battled Holy Name’s Maddie Krause (9-5). She finished with six innings of work, allowing six earned runs off 12 hits in the loss.
With two outs, Herrington hung tough on a challenging at bat, eventually connecting on a 3-2 pitch to drive in Alexis Bowen for an RBI single, upping the Wildcat’s lead to 3-0.
The two-out run was one of six on the afternoon for Keystone.
“The biggest thing I’m happy with is the two-out hits that they scored runs,” Piazza said. “Six out of our seven runs were scored with two outs, so that was great focus on their part to come up big in that situation.”
After a couple of frustrating innings, Keystone’s offense awoke in the bottom of the fourth with a Marlie McNulty RBI single. Then in the fifth, they had their way with Krause and the Green Wave defense, capitalizing on an error and tallying three runs, including an RBI double from Ali Pyles and an RBI single from Bowen.
Bowen went 2-for-3 with a single, double and one RBI.
The mini-burst came after a shaky top of the fifth inning where Holy Name mustered a pair of singles from Anessa Whitlow and Sidney Jablonski with just one out. Whitlow made her way to third on a rare wild pitch from Campbell, but that’s when Keystone’s true maturity was revealed.
After a bunt from Holy Name’s Mary Lewis went up the third base line, Herrington (third baseman) swooped the ball up and pump faked to first, baiting Whitlow into an out at third and saving a run.
Campbell had a front row view of a play that was executed to perfection.
“In those positions where we have runners on, that’s what we practice day in and day out,” Campbell said. “We practice those situations and we know what we need to do. Madi did, she knew that she needed to do the pump fake and get her out at third. We are just really smart about the game of softball and we know what needs to be done. For me personally on the mound, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to strikeout a couple people, get a couple outs for my team so we could go back and hit.”
“Yeah, that is a play that we work on all the time on a certain call,” Piazza said. “Madi executed it perfectly. That was huge. That was a big out.”
Campbell then struck out Molly Hurst to get out of the jam.
Though some will compare this year’s Keystone team to last year’s state championship team, Piazza instead focuses on just how resilient this year’s group of girls are, and just how special they are to coach.
“We don’t really compare because it’s a different group and a different situation,” Piazza said. “The thing I do like is this resilience of this team. When we need the big hit, somebody comes through. It’s somebody different every time. We are pretty deep in the lineup and I just really like the depth that we have right now and the energy that we bring every day.”
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