“It’s the year,” said junior pitcher Nicole Rawlings, who conquered CNE with her arm (a four-hitter with eight strikeouts) and her bat (three doubles and four RBIs). “I feel it in my bones. Coach gets goosebumps talking about it. We’re ready.”
Badin (26-2) earned a regional semifinal rematch against Springfield Northwestern at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at Wright State University. The Rams fell 4-0 to the Warriors in 2016.
“It’s excellent for the program to come from where it was to where it is now,” Badin coach Greg Stitzel said. “Three straight district championships is awesome. It used to be my dream to win district championships. Now we’re going back to regionals, and we’re fully looking forward to this rematch.”
Monday’s contest was somewhat exasperating for the Rams. They piled up 17 hits against CNE hurler Morgan Schweiger, but stranded 13 runners and got two more thrown out at home plate.
The Rockets (10-15) were only down 4-1 heading to the fifth inning. They simply didn’t have the horses to pull off an upset.
Rawlings — like Schweiger, a left-hander — credited CNE for its tenacity, but her belief in her team never wavered.
“I knew we had it,” Rawlings said. “I know what we’ve got, and I just had confidence in everyone and myself.”
Clermont Northeastern committed six errors, all in the last five innings. Schweiger sliced an RBI double down the left-field line to plate the Rockets’ lone run in the fourth.
“We were just hoping to give them a good game,” CNE coach Terri Hoerth said. “We were solid for a while, but when you come out and play a team like Badin, you’ve got to come out flawlessly. There’s no room for errors, and you can’t shut down. We shut down.”
Josie Link drove in two runs for Badin, and Lauren Moser and Anna Cantwell added RBIs. Sam Sander collected three hits, while Gracie McHugh, Maddie Curtner, Sydney Rawlings, Moser and Cantwell each had two.
“We had a hard time finishing them off with all the runners we left on base,” Stitzel said. “We had the bases loaded with our big hitters up, and they couldn’t get it done. The bottom of the lineup actually got it done today. That’s why they call it a team.”
Nicole Rawlings’ four RBIs came on two-run doubles in the third and seventh innings.
Asked which part of her dominant game she enjoyed the most Monday, Rawlings grabbed the district championship medal she was wearing around her neck.
“I think this is what I like the most,” she said.
Stitzel informed Rawlings before the game that she had been voted to the All-Ohio first team.
“I said, ‘Now’s the time to show everybody why,’ ” Stitzel said. “And she was pretty solid today.”
Badin 003-113-2—10-17-0
Clermont Northeastern 000-100-0—1-4-6
WP — Nicole Rawlings (24-2); LP — Morgan Schweiger (10-15). Records: B 26-2, C 10-15
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