GALION — River Valley has no shortage of power hitters in its lineup.
Sophomore Samantha Woods did the most damage with a three-run blast in the fifth inning as the Lady Vikings took down Galion 7-6 in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference softball action at Heise Park Wednesday night.
The homer broke a 4-4 tie and gave RV its second win in as many nights, having won Tuesday night’s battle in Caledonia by a 12-9 score.
The contest started off in favor of the Lady Tigers.
“That first pitcher had us off balance. We weren’t expecting that, and it took us a while to adjust, but we did,” River Valley head coach Phil Shepler said.
Galion freshman starter Adalyn Perry went four innings and spun a wicked off-speed pitch that helped account for eight strikeouts and two walks.
“When we adjusted to her, they brought in the pitcher (Madison Beck) from last night. We made some adjustments, and we were waiting and letting the ball get a little too deep. I told them we just need to attack, and we did a better job attacking the second time through,” Shepler said.
Galion struck with four runs in the third inning. Kaitlyn McKee’s lead-off triple, singles by CeCe Campbell and Madelyn Schieber put the hosts on top. A double by Destiny Blue to right center field made it 4-0.
“We’re competing and it’s a good time for us to compete,” said Galion head coach Calli Bauer. “We started off the year 0-6 and since then we’ve turned it around, and our whole lineup is hitting the ball well.
“We just gotta string things together as a whole. We’re still working on believing in ourselves,” she added.
“I think it’s just realizing that we can compete with these teams. Our first league game we lost 4-3 to Clear Fork. After that, and the success they’ve had being tied for first in the league, they realized, shoot, we can compete.”
River Valley plated three runs in the fourth inning. Hits by Woods, Olivia Spires (a double) and Sidney Street cut the Galion lead to 4-3.
Street got the pitching win with a pair of strikeouts and a walk. Relief help came from Lanie Wooten (6 strikeouts, no walks).
A pair of infield errors cost Galion in the fifth inning, as RV put four runners across the plate.
A Delaney Myers double, two throwing errors and the home run by Woods proved the difference.
“On that home run I said we should have walked her or pitched her outside. I thought maybe we could get her to hit a ground ball. So, I take accountability for that one,” Bauer said.
Trailing 7-4, Galion scored a pair of runs on hits by McKee and Kortnie Ganshorn to make it a 7-6 final.
Elliott Freyman robbed Bentley Auld of a certain home run in the seventh with a running catch in left field.
Shepler said his club’s fielding was a major difference.
“We made seven errors last night and had one here late. I was like, oh my gosh,” he said. “Tonight, on that one play (seventh inning) that’s why I called time out. I said just dive on the ball, play deep and keep the ball in front of you, I don’t care if you have to lay on top of it. You’ve got to stop the ball and not let it go to the fence.
“Especially with their hitters. CeCe and (Madelyn) Schieber can hit the crap out of the ball. They put the ball in play. We have got to fix our defense and play better. There’s always things to work on for us.”
Shepler has his team geared toward Division II sectional play, against either Lakewood or Bexley at home next Wednesday.
“It’s a tough draw for us. We’ll have to win three games to get to regionals. We’ve gotta play three tough teams and we’ll have to play three good games,” he said.
For Bauer, there is an abundance of optimism within the program.
“Coming into this series with River Valley they were 12-4 and we made it interesting, losing by three last night and losing by one tonight,” she said.
“We realize we can hang with these people and we’re scaring a lot of people. Galion softball really hasn’t been something in the MOAC that’s been super prominent these last few years.”
Bauer played at Galion and since becoming head coach has tried to instill a winning culture.
“Looking at that 2019 team and now. The difference is that they had good ball players and were talented, but they knew what winning felt like,” she said. “We need to be OK with winning and we’re slowly getting there.”
The team has won as many games (eight) as it did last season. Two seasons prior the team was winless.
“We’ve still got three more regular season games and tournaments coming up. Definitely exciting stuff is happening. We have a couple of great leaders on this team that really are pushing us and a couple freshmen who contribute a ton. We’re getting there,” Bauer said.
Box score
River Valley 000 340 0 7 5 1
Galion 004 000 2 6 8 3
WP: Sidney Street (2 SO, 1 W)
LP: Adalyn Perry (8 SO, 2 W)
HR: (RV) Samantha Woods (3-run, fifth inning).
Triples: (G) Kaitlyn McKee.
Doubles: (RV) Olivia Spires, Delaney Myers; (G) Destiny Blue 2, Kaitlyn McKee.
Multiple hits: (RV) Samantha Wood; (G) Kaitlyn McKee 3, Destiny Blue.
Records: River Valley 15-4, 9-3 MOAC; Galion 8-12, 3-9 MOAC.
Next: River Valley at Clear Fork, Friday; Galion at Crestline, Friday.