By Dan Messerschmidt
CCN Sports Director

HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Hannah Messmer rained strikeouts on Crestline hitters and the sophomore helped end a drought at Wynford.

The Royals scored three runs in the sixth inning on the strength of a double by Jenna Coffman to erase a three-run deficit. The result was a 4-3 victory over the Lady Bulldogs in the opening round of the Division IV sectional tournament.

It was Wynford’s first softball tournament win in recent memory. The current staff and players had not experienced postseason success.

“It’s fantastic,” third-year coach Jamee Burke said. “It’s my first one with the program and I’m really excited.”

The player with the game-winning hit, Jenna Coffman, agreed.

“It means a lot,” Coffman said. “Being my senior year, having played all four years and never getting over that hump, it’s always been kind of disappointing. Finally, my senior year — it’s a great feeling.”

The loss was a heart-breaker for Crestline (7-11), which had built an early lead and held it until the fateful bottom of the sixth.

“One really bad spot, that was it,” Crestline coach Patti Huber said. “You learn from it and go on to nest year. That’s all you can do. If we had made that play, it would have been our game.”

The Bulldogs took control early. Michaela Jeffrey led off the game with a double and Lydia Tadda promptly tripled her home. Desi Naveja followed with a single to score Tadda and Crestline had a 2-0 lead with no outs.

A key play occurred on the next pitch. Madison Huber hit a low liner back at Messmer, which she snagged and tossed to first to double off Naveja, minimizing the damage.

From there, Messmer settled down. She struck out 12 and issued no walks. The Bulldogs managed only one more, unearned, run. Tadda was safe on an error with two outs and ended up at second. Naveja singled her home.

“I just figured, I have to reset,” Messmer said of the shaky start. “I have a reset word in my head. I figured I have to locate the ball, that’s all I can do. I locate the ball and let my defense back me up.”

After the third, only two Bulldogs reached base. Jeffrey singled in the fifth and Huber singled in the sixth. Messmer retired 12 of the last 14 batter to face her.

“We really hit the ball and then it was gone,” Huber said. “I don’t know what happened. Sometimes, we get a mindset that we want that ball right down the middle, they don’t want to reach for that outside pitch.

“She was laying a great inside pitch and they probably could have hit it right over that fence if they just swung at it,” Huber continued. “But I could get none of them to do it.”

Wynford (7-11) cut the original 2-run deficit in half with a run in the second. Paige Rex led off with a walk, stole second and went to third on a passed ball. Kristin Owen’s single plated Rex.

After the Bulldogs’ run in the third, it stayed 3-1 until the Royals’ sixth.

Maddie Wagner and Victoria Hoerig led off with singles. Coffman stepped in and smoked a ground ball that just eluded the back-hand attempt by shortstop Alandra Tesso. The ball also skipped by the left-fielder to the fence for a double and an error, allowing Coffman to get to third.

The ball was dropped on the throw back to the infield for another error, allowing Coffman to score what proved to be the winning run.

“As a coach, there’s no better feeling than seeing Jenna in that box (in that situation),” Burke said. “I could see it in her eyes, ‘I want this.’ I knew right then and there, we got this. She thought that too.”

On many nights, Tadda pitched well enough to win for Crestline. The senior righthander struck out four, walked three and only gave up five hits. Jeffrey led the Bulldogs’ offense with a double and single. Tadda tripled and scored twice, while Naveja singled twice and drove in two.

Coffman doubled and Hoerig, Maddie Wagner, and Kearston Hulsmeyer singled for the Royals.

“It is what it is,” Huber said. “They’re good kids. I’m kind of in shock a little bit. We’ll start fresh next year. We’ve got freshmen pitchers. Hopefully, they’ll work in the summer, the off-season, and get stronger.”

“The top of our order has been pretty hot lately,” Burke said. “We’re hitting well, and we just decided to stick with our game plan. It worked out for us.”

The Royals play a second post-season game for the first time in a long time.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” Burke said. “We told the girls now is the fun part of the season. Luckily, we have two days of practice before we go to that sectional final at Seneca East.”

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Crestline    201 000 0        3    6    2

Wynford    010 003 X        4    5    1

WP: Hannah Messmer (12 SO, 0 W)

LP: Lydia Tadda (4 SO, 3 W)

HR: None.

Triples: (C) Lydia Tadda.

Doubles: (C) Michaela Jeffrey; (W) Jenna Coffman.

Multiple hits: (C) Michaela Jeffrey, Desi Naveja.

Records: Crestline 7-10; Wynford 7-11.

Next: Wynford at Seneca East, Thursday, Division IV district tournament.