Battle in the Buckeye State (6/2)
Battle in the Buckeye State (6/2)
One of the most heavily anticipated high school softball showdowns of the year will take place Thursday in Ohio as the top team in the state, Lebanon High, will face three-time state champion Hoover of North Canton Thursday at 3 pm EST at Akron’s Firestone Stadium in one bracket of the Final Four.
The winner will face either Elyria or Grove City Saturday in the state championship game at 1 pm EST and be favored to win the Div. I crown.
Lebanon (32-0) is currently ranked No. 7 in the FAB 50 ratings and Hoover is No. 31.
Adding drama to the match-up is the fact that Hoover beat the Warriors in the 2012 state title game 2-0, but lost to Lebanon 3-1 at the Wendy’s Classic in Ashland on April 12.
Lebanon, however, almost didn’t make it to the re-match everyone’s been waiting for—it took a comeback in the bottom of the 7th to give it a thrilling 3-2 win over Mason in the Div. I regional championship game.
Senior Sam Showalter (Toledo signee) put Lebanon on top in the fourth with a solo home run and the way junior pitcher Tara Trainer (Indiana commit) was pitching, that looked like it would be enough.
However, it almost all fell apart in the top of the seventh when the Warriors’ defense went missing.
Mason employed several bunts, including two-running scoring squeezes, which seemed to paralyze the infield defense and put Lebanon’s undefeated year in serious jeopardy.
But Trainer, who only had one home run on the season, went up to the plate and showed she’s as clutch of a hitter as she is a pitcher.
She crushed a pitch over the centerfield fence to tie the game and give the Warriors new life. Three batters later, Chloe Allen scored on an overthrown ball to first on a bunt to the pitcher by junior Kim Frank (Toledo).
The roller-coaster emotions got to Frank who was ecstatic after the win.
“I was sprinting and people were cheering and the ball was going over first base,” she told the Journal-News after the game. “I was so happy I just started crying. Every person on this team is amazing. I love them all.”
Trainer ran her record to 19-0 on the year as she struck out nine while allowing three hits over seven innings. She also went 2-for-3 from the plate including her key home run.
For the season, Trainer—who missed most of last year after a near-fatal car accident—continues to be one of the most dominant pitchers in the nation. She has 252 strikeouts in 117.2 innings with 11 shutouts and a 0.24 ERA.
She’ll need to bring her “A” game Thursday when she faces the Lady Vikings who are led by third baseman Jenna Lilley, the No. 1 player in the senior class according to StudentSportsSoftball.com (Tara, incidentally, is rated No. 88 in the junior class although the rankings were compiled prior to her high school season).
Hoover beat Jesuit Walsh 4-3 to advance to the semis and has an ace of its own in Tara Thacker (Northern Illinois) who pitched a perfect game in the regional semi-final.
Both sides are senior-heavy with Lebanon fielding seven seniors including five four-year starters while Hoover’s graduates have never lost a playoff game.
Something has to give Thursday and it promises to be—even though it’s not the final—a game that softball fans will be talking about for a long, long time.