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Sports TwitterLebanon wins battle of state powers
Warriors rally from 6-1 deficit to beat state No. 3 Greenville.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
LEBANON — Alex Machen proved once again to be Greenville's worst irritant.
In a fastpitch softball showdown Tuesday, April 22, that had pitchers' duel written all over it, Machen, a Lebanon junior, delivered a two-run home run to left-center (225 feet) in the sixth inning to give her team a 7-6 win over last year's Division II state champions. It capped a comeback for the Warriors, who were down 6-1 after the top of the fifth inning.
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Lebanon High School catcher, Alex Machen, tags out Greenville High School right fielder Alysaa Comer at home plate. Machen had three hits including a two-run home run that clinched the game Tuesday afternoon, April 23.
Greenville's Kyli Gunckel fires a pitch toward a Lebanon hitter Tuesday in Lebanon. Greenville, the 2007 Division II state champion, lost 7-6.Lebanon, No. 10 in the Division I state coaches poll, improves to 16-1, while Greenville, No. 3 in the same poll, slips to 13-3.
When she was a nerveless freshman, Machen drove in four runs in a 5-3 win over Greenville. On Tuesday, she clubbed her home run off Kyli Gunckel on a 2-2 pitch, her second homer of the season.
"She pretty much threw me a meatball down the middle," Machen said. "It was right there. She was struggling, throwing the ball in the dirt. We had a nice crowd (estimated at 150), and the adrenaline always pumps when you go against a defending state champ."
Both coaches, Brian Kindell of Lebanon and Jerrod Newland of Greenville, anticipated a low-scoring game between pitchers Gunckel (12-2) and Faith Tessmer (5-0, 0.00 ERA). It didn't materialize.
"It was two softball heavyweights slugging it out, and Lebanon showed more resiliency, grit and determination," Newland said. "Right now, Lebanon is No. 1 in the Miami Valley after beating Northmont, Fairmont and us."
Did he consider walking Machen, a career .400 hitter and Green Wave nemesis?
"Maybe I should have bit my tooth and issued a walk, but that's not our style," Newland said. "We went right at her. It didn't end up being a great coaching decision, did it?"
Greenville opened a 6-1 lead with a five-run outburst in the fifth, thanks to a Gunckel home run and two of six uncharacteristic Warrior errors. But Bethany Campbell (6-0) relieved Tessmer and silenced Greenville the final three innings. Lebanon scored four in the fifth and two in the sixth.
"We didn't help ourselves with all those errors early, but we were able to overcome the shakiness, and then Alex put an exclamation point on it with her two-run shot," Kindell said. "This has been a great series and we're now 3-2 against Greenville in the last three years."
