Flash player is required to view weather conditions. Download

site web  

TIPP CITY — Going into the Division III sectional softball semifinal Friday, May 16, with second-seeded Blanchester High School, Badin coach Greg Stitzel told his Rams they had to play perhaps their best defensive game of the season.

But, despite some stellar defensive plays, Badin coughed up too many errors to hang with Blanchester. The Wildcats took advantage of five Rams miscues for a 10-0 victory in five innings.

"I told the girls before the game that we had to play stellar defense," Stitzel said, "then we had that third inning, and that spelled trouble for us."

The five-run third saw the Wildcats (18-6) smack three hits, send nine batters to the plate and capitalize on four Badin errors. Three of the five runs were unearned.

"And if we had taken advantage of the early opportunity we had, we might've been able to turn the tide our way before any of the troubles took place," Stitzel said.

Badin (13-13) opened the first two innings of play with leadoff singles.

First, Whitney Mueller drilled a single into right field. Stacie Weber moved Mueller over to second with a nifty sacrifice bunt, but that was as far as the initial threat would go.

In the second inning, Kaitlyn Spradling beat out a grounder to the Blanchester shortstop, reached second with a stolen base, then got to third on a fielder's choice play at first. But that was as far as she would go.

Blanchester pitcher Erica Lee retired the next nine Rams batters, but Badin's Katie Gray broke the string in the fifth inning with a walk. Stella Luggen reached on a force out of Gray at second, stole a base, then got to third on Lisa Ruhe's infield single, but Luggen was standing on third when the game ended.

Playing in her final game as a Ram, catcher Megan Batt made the most of it. She picked off a Wildcats baserunner at first to end the second inning, and in the fourth made a diving tag on Blanchester's Sarah Cioca in a rundown at third.

Batt said she had a great senior season on a fun Badin squad.

"It's been pretty amazing, really," she said. "It's tough to leave this field as a senior, but I know we played hard in each game."

Batt, Luggen, Spradling, Anna Korb and an injured Ashley Crossley each finished their high school softball careers Friday.

Vote for this story!