CRESTLINE — Seneca East softball coach Steve Heal said his team relied on fundamentals to secure an 11-4 Division IV sectional win over the Crestline Lady Bulldogs on a warm Monday evening.
“We played a really good ball game defensively. We always emphasize defense first. We had two errors, but we made some really nice defensive plays. We really didn’t give them a chance with our mistakes,” Heal said.
The Lady Tigers (3-12, 2-9) are the ninth seed and they advance to play at Plymouth against the fourth-seeded hosts on Thursday.
“We’re a young team with only two seniors. We start a couple freshmen and four or five sophomores, so it’s been a process this season of getting better,” he said.
“The last two weeks the kids have kind of turned the corner and begun to improve. The N10 is a tough league to learn in. It’s nice to see them improve and they’re excited about getting a good win.”
One of those seniors is pitcher Kiersten Cook, who picked up the win with four strikeouts and one walk. The other senior Brooke Bordner had a double down the third base line in the third inning to drive in a run that gave the Lady Tigers a 2-1 lead they would not surrender.
Crestline (6-7) was plagued by mistakes, committing four errors, and allowing several unearned runs.
Coach Jackie Flinders credited her pitcher, Brooklyn Gregory, with competing. Gregory struck out 12 and walked five, along with a few wild pitches.
“Brooklyn pitched a good enough game to win. I ride her arm and I don’t want to play without her,” Flinders said.
“She’s surrounded by kids who play all these other sports and that’s frustrating. I have three travel ball kids — centerfielder, shortstop, and pitcher — and that’s it. When they’re in situations, they can handle those things,” she said.
Flinders credits catcher Emma Kirby, her lone senior, with being a leader.
“She puts the whole team on her back; it’s hard to do — playing a position she got thrown in there. That’s probably not where she wants to play, but she won’t complain. I don’t know how I’m going to fill that next year.”
The Lady Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead when Gregory doubled in Maddie Engler, who singled.
But from there it was all Seneca East as the visitors scored two in the second and four more in the third. They strung together four hits in the third with Cook slamming a double to left.
Things were close with Crestline trailing 6-3 after four innings before a three-run fifth inning sealed the game. In that frame the Lady Tigers sent seven batters to the plate and scored without a single base hit. Three walks and several fielding mistakes were the difference.
Competing in a tough league has helped prepare Seneca East.
“Everybody’s a good matchup. Anybody can beat anybody. We saw that this year with Wynford getting a couple big wins. It’s a meat grinder and you have to be ready to play.
“You see good pitching and you see good defense and you see good hitters. Nobody is going to show up and walk in 22 runs in a game or something like that,” Heal said. “You gotta be ready.”
Heal’s team visits Plymouth at 5 p.m. Thursday in the sectional finals.
“We were supposed to play them last week. You know how this spring’s been and it didn’t happen because of make-up games probably on both our ends. They always have good kids and have had some good teams over the years.”
Flinders has the one huge void to fill with Kirby’s departure.
“Pitcher and catcher that’s your main spots on your team. They go to pitching and catching lessons, they go together. To lose that, you put your faith in that.”
Heading into her second season as coach, Flinders has plans for the summer.
“It’s going to be getting kids out here; something that we didn’t get to do. I didn’t get started until late. I told them no spot is safe. Ashlyn (Calnek) never played infield a day in her life, but she can play infield.”
The Lady Bulldogs will bring more experience onto the diamond next spring.
“You got to figure out the kids that can play both. That’s what I like for next year. I have kids who know their roles, but they’re OK with their roles changing. Having a senior pitcher (Gregory) and senior centerfielder in Maddie (Engler), it’ll be nice having more than one senior so the pressure won’t all be on one.”
She also is counting on a strong sophomore class remaining intact.
“Those kids have been playing together since they were little. Hopefully, we get some people out who didn’t come out.”
Box score
Seneca East 024 032 0 11 8 2
Crestline 100 210 0 4 6 4
WP: Kiersten Cook (4 SO, 1 W)
LP: Brooklyn Gregory (12 SO, 5 W)
HR: None.
Triples: (SE) Kiersten Cook.
Doubles: (SE) Abby Drosky 2, Kiersten Cook, Brooke Bordner; (C) Brooke Gregory 2.
Multiple hits: (SE) Abby Drosky, Kiersten Cook; (C) Brooklyn Gregory.
Records: Seneca East 3-12; Crestline 6-7.
Next: Seneca East at Mohawk, Tuesday; Mansfield Senior at Crestline, Wednesday.