“It was just an amazing feeling. All I could do was smile,” Wagner said. “Back to back to back … that’s a really good thing. We’re really, really excited.”
» PHOTOS: Rick Cassano’s 36-image gallery from Monroe
Wagner and the Blue Devils’ Kristin Gardner matched three-hitters (Gardner struck out nine), but Monroe tallied a run in the second inning and made it stand up.
The Hornets pushed their record to 14-2 overall and 10-1 in the SWBL Southwestern. They’ll complete league play at home against Oakwood on Friday.
Monroe’s only two seniors, third baseman Sam Ross and second baseman Makenzi Moore, played key roles Tuesday. Ross delivered two hits, while Moore plated Sam Schwab with a ground out after Schwab singled, went to second on an error and stole third.
“Losing to Eaton last week brought us down a little bit, but we knew this was going to be a big game, so we came out stronger,” Ross said. “It’s awesome. Softball’s a big part of my high school career, and ending it with three years of league champs means a lot to me.”
The Hornets are 33-2 in SWBL play during this streak of three consecutive outright championships.
“We still had another game if we didn’t win this one, but the kids told me before the game that they didn’t want to share it,” seventh-year Monroe coach Tim Kellis said. “It never gets old. It’s always a different group of kids, and some of them are experiencing it for the first time. You could see the freshmen were all jacked up.”
The junior battery of Wagner and Schwab is 3-for-3 when it comes to SWBL titles, and they found each other for an embrace seconds after the game ended.
Wagner has piled up 192 strikeouts in 95 innings this year, breaking her own single-season school record of 188 whiffs. Schwab calls the pitches behind the plate.
“Sam’s the best,” Wagner said. “She always gets me through the hard times. She makes the perfect calls.”
Monroe defeated Brookville 7-1 on April 1. The rematch proved to be far more competitive.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys and what they do over there. We’ve had a tremendous rivalry with them,” Kellis said. “We didn’t want to share the title, but if we had to share it with anybody, that’s a good group to do it with. They are just first-class people.”
Wagner retired the first 13 Blue Devils she faced, but the visitors got one-out singles from Kaitlyn Rediger and Gardner in the fifth. They loaded the bases before Wagner escaped the jam.
Brookville (16-4, 8-3) stranded six runners in the last three innings.
“Our game plan was to be patient, and when the pitch is there, put it in play,” Blue Devils coach Bob Lenser said. “We knew she was a good pitcher. We were thinking, ‘Don’t swing at her pitches. Look for ours.’
“We told our girls going into this that we were going to fight all the way through and we were in it to the last pitch, so we can’t ask any more than that. Hats off to Monroe for playing a great game and winning the SWBL.”
One of the game’s key moments came in the sixth when Brookville slugger Jessica Brown stood in the batter’s box with one out and Emma Burton on second base. Burton drew a leadoff walk, and Sydney Duke followed with a sacrifice bunt.
Brown has launched a SWBL-leading 10 home runs this season and went very deep against Wagner in the first meeting with the Hornets. That homer broke up Wagner’s no-hitter in the bottom of the seventh.
Kellis said serious thought was given to walking Brown in her last at-bat Tuesday.
“I said, ‘OK, do we put the winning run on base?’ Everybody said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,’ ” Kellis said. “So I went out to Alyssa and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got an open base. Do you want to put her on or do you want to pitch to her?’ And she said, ‘I got it.’ ”
Wagner retired Brown on a strikeout.
“I guess there’s a time when you’ve got to have faith in your players,” Kellis said. “Alyssa wanted it, and she came through like a warrior. She just accepts the challenge and goes with it.”
Gardner reached base on a one-out infield single for the Blue Devils in the seventh. Wagner walked Bonnie Stevenson with two outs before fanning pinch-hitter Haley Brown to end the game.
“We did what we had to do,” Ross said. “I brought a little nervousness to myself, but I had full confidence in every single player on my team.”
“I thought we were going to get this done,” Wagner said. “I got a little nervous, but I just thought, ‘This is ours.’ ”
She said the Hornets worked hard and fortified their mind-set after last Wednesday’s 5-1 home loss to Eaton.
“We decided that we needed to be strong,” Wagner said. “Our hitting needed to be good, our defense needed to be good, and me and Sam had to come together for sure.”
Monroe had to make some defensive changes after sophomore shortstop Chloe Adkins left the team Sunday. Freshman Bri Rose moved from second base to short, Moore moved from first base to second, and freshman Hazel Moon stepped in at first.
Both teams are scheduled to play at home Wednesday, the Hornets vs. Miamisburg and the Blue Devils vs. Milton-Union.
Brookville 000-000-0—0-3-1
Monroe 010-000-x—1-3-1
WP — Alyssa Wagner (14-1); LP — Kristin Gardner (7-2). Records: B 16-4, 8-3 SWBL Southwestern; M 14-2, 10-1 SWBL Southwestern
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