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St. C girls fall short

ST. CLAIRSVILLE shortstop Taylor Gallentine, left, and second baseman Taylor Toothman camp underneath an infield popup during Thursday’ Ohio Division II District Tournament championship game at Lady Bobcat Field in Cambridge. Toothman made the catch, but the Red Devils dropped a 1-0 decision and ended their season at 20-4.

CAMBRIDGE — St. Clairsville outhit River View 7-3 Thursday night in the Eastern District Division II softball tournament championship game, but the Red Devils couldn’t come up with the timely hit when they needed it. The Black Bears did once and that was enough.

Claire Warschauer belted a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the third inning as top-seeded River View (28-3) advanced with a nip-and-tuck 1-0 decision over the second-seeded Red Devils (20-4).

“We had seven hits, but we just couldn’t get a runner in scoring position when we got a hit,” St. Clairsville head coach Ron Hummell said. “We couldn’t get a runner in scoring position and then put more pressure on them than we did.

“I’ve said all year that if we hit the ball, we can hang with anybody. We hit the ball today, we just couldn’t get that timely hit.”

St. Clairsville left nine runners on base, including three in scoring position early on.

Amaya Smith scattered three hits in going the distance inside the circle for St. Clairsville. She fanned three and didn’t walk a batter, but it was that 1-0 dropball that was the difference. The St. Francis (Pa.) recruit retired 10 of the final 12 batters she faced and threw just 64 pitches, of which 46 went for strikes. She faced four batters over the minimum.

“We’d like to have that one pitch back, but that’s one of the few times she missed her spot,” he said. “Hey, she’s human. Things like that will in the course of a game.”

St. Clairsville was its worst enemy in the first three frames when it stranded two runners each, including the third when it collected a trio of singles only to be kept off the scoreboard when a runner was thrown out trying to steal. That was followed by back-to-back base hits.

Smith recorded two quick outs to start the bottom of the third and was 1-0 on Warschauer, the Black Bears leadoff hitter. The next pitch was deposited well over the fence in left.

“They’ve got a very nice team, but so do we,” Hummell said. “We held them at bay. I thought they would have more hits, but Amaya did a very nice job out there. They’re 28-3 for a reason.”

Taylor Gallentine singled leading off the fifth, but two consecutive popups and a flyball to center ended the inning. Jenn Jaskowiak singled with one out in the sixth, but went no further.

With one out in the seventh, the left-handed hitting Gallentine sliced a shot between third and short that Warschauer — the shortstop — dove to her right and snagged just off the ground for the second out. Maddy Vickers, who was the only player in the game with more than one hit, lined a single to left, but she was forced at second to end the contest.

“We had a good season. Our four seniors have had very successful careers and they are great softball players,” Hummell said. “It’s going to be tough without them. That’s for sure.” Those seniors are Smith, Vickers, Ari Reager and Hannah Stachyra.

River View advances to regional action Wednesday in Pickerington where it will meet the winner of the Pickerington I District final between Lakewood and Granville at 2 p.m. That game will be played Saturday 1 p.m.

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