By Dan Messerschmidt
CCN Sports Director

ATTICA — Wynford coach Jamee Burke had the look of a person who just had the rug pulled out from under her.

In a figurative sense, she had.

Her Royals took a 4-3 lead on Seneca East in the top of seventh, breaking a four-inning 3-3 tie. But the Lady Tigers came back with two in the bottom of the inning — the second coming with two outs — to defeat Wynford, 5-4, in the Division IV sectional final.

The Tigers advance to the district semifinal at Shelby on Tuesday, at 6:30 p.m., where they will take on Lucas.

“I’m extremely proud of our girls,” an emotional Burke said. “That’s a tough, tough game to go tied that long. We went up two then had to come back and tie it. To withstand that so many innings and be mentally tough, I am absolutely proud of these girls.”

Seneca East coach John Sauers acknowledged that his team stole one.

“We found a way to make some plays at crucial times,” Sauers said. “We got some crucial hits at the right time and we pulled a win out.”

Those crucial hits came after Wynford (7-12) had finally broken the tie in the top of the seventh.

Maddie Wagner walked with one out and she, significantly, moved all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt by Victoria Hoerig. Wagner was then able to score on a bloop infield single by Paige Rex.

“Softball is a crazy game,” Burke said. “We got lucky a lot tonight.”

Luck changed into a Seneca East (11-6) uniform in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Brooke Enders singled up the middle, then stole second base. Mallory Beamer singled her home, advanced to second on the throw to the plate and got to third on an error of the throw.

Royals pitcher looked like she might get out of the inning with the game tied when she induced a ground ball back to the mound, getting the second out while holding Beamer at third. But the Tigers’ Lexi Cheek foiled the plan when she lined the first pitch she saw into left field to end the game.

“I always want the kids to play hard but loose,” Sauers said. “I could tell we were tight, very tight, and it showed. You try to stay with it, you fight through it. I’ve got to give them credit for that.”

Part of the evidence was the six errors that the Tigers committed, two in the first inning, that led to tow unearned Wynford runs. Wagner singled with one out and Hoerig was safe on an infield single.

An error on the throw sent Wagner to third and Hoerig stole second. Wagner scored when Jenna Coffman was safe on another error and Hoerig came across on Rex’s ground out.

Seneca East answered with three runs in the first. Jessica Bowerman, Lauren Sauers and Jillian Allgyre singled, Taylor Enders walked, and Brooke Enders had a sacrifice fly.

Wynford tied it at 3-3 in the top of the second when Estep reached on an error and Scott pinch ran for her. Bailey Alspach moved Scott to second with a sacrifice and Kearston Hulsmeyer brought Scott home with a single.

Sauers and Royals’ pitcher Hannah Messmer matched pitches from there until the pivotal seventh inning.

Messmer struck out three and walked seven — two of which were intentional — while being touched for seven hits. Messmer blanked the Tigers on one hit in innings two through six.

“We tell the girls to change the culture and I think we’ve done that here at Wynford,” Burke said. “It hurts, because we really wanted to hang that banner in the gym. It’s been 10 years since we won a sectional. We wanted to do that for these seniors.”

Alspach, Hoerig, Coffman, Morgan Beaschler and Taylor Carver will see their careers at Wynford come to an end.

Beaschler, Wagner, Hoerig, Rex and Hulsmeyer singled for the Royals’ offense. Rex batted in two runs and Wagner scored a pair.

Sauers struck out five and issued three bases on balls for the Tigers. She gave up the five hits and two of the four runs were unearned.

Brooke Enders had two singles, while Bowerman, Sauers, Beamer, Allgyre and Cheek singled.

“We’re tremendously young. I have a lot of freshmen playing varsity and girls playing varsity for the first time,” Sauers said. “Six kids are seeing their first varsity ball this year. They’re athletic but they’re still figuring things out. They are a tough group when they need to be.”

“We have Buckeye (Central) tomorrow and a doubleheader on Saturday,” Burke said. “And we’ve got to get another game in with Bucyrus, so we’re just hoping to end on a high. The underclassmen get this feeling, what this feels like and they’ve never had that.”

208-530-3035

Wynford          210 000 1        4    5    2

Seneca East    300 000 2        5    7    6

WP: Lauren Sauers (5 SO, 3 W)

LP: Hannah Messmer (3 SO, 7 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: None.

Multiple hits: (SE) Brooke Enders.

Records: Wynford 7-12; Seneca East 11-6.