Alyssa Rothwell ended Tara Trainer’s no-hitter with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the eighth inning as Ashville Teays Valley captured its first state title by stunning Lebanon 1-0 at Firestone Stadium.
“It’s obviously not the ending we wanted,” said Warriors coach Brian Kindell, subdued after watching his squad finish 33-1.
“But I’m proud of my team, proud of the players, coaching staff, community that showed so much great support this season. We just didn’t get it done today.”
Trainer was magnificent in her prep finale, punctuating her one-hitter with 14 strikeouts. She took a perfect game into the seventh inning.
“She throws a lot of junk,” Vikings senior catcher Hayden Ellis said. “She gets one strike and then she just tries to get you to chase. She did a great job of doing that. I think she kept all of our hitters off balance. It’s hard to kind of guess what pitch is going to come next with her.”
Lebanon escaped a first-and-second jam in the seventh by turning a double play, then suffered through Rothwell’s walkoff heroics in the eighth.
“I didn’t get a pitch like that pretty much the whole game,” said Rothwell, a junior and the winning pitcher — she also threw a one-hitter.
“I struck out twice, and then that last at-bat I was just thinking to myself, ‘Just get a base hit. Your team needs you on base.’ I wasn’t trying to like crush the ball. I just made contact.”
The ball landed over the center-field fence and kept the Warriors in search of their first state championship.
“I know we had called a change because we were really trying to keep her off balance because she did look like a good hitter,” Lebanon junior catcher Kirsten Reed said. “My guess, she expected it. You could just see in the way she attacked it. We were hoping she’d just watch it pass by. But she didn’t.”
Rothwell said she wasn’t looking for the changeup. But her connection was true.
“Honestly, I didn’t see it until I was rounding first,” Rothwell said. “It felt like a perfect hit. It felt like a line drive that I crushed. I was hoping I at least hit a gap, and then when I saw it go over when I got to first, I couldn’t even put into words how excited I was.
“I wanted to make sure I was doing my job for my team because I know that they will always have my back. I’m so thankful that I can be a part of their team.”
Kindell’s reaction? “(Trainer) had been so sharp that you don’t expect that,” he said. “But they’re talented hitters 1 through 9. You surely can’t expect her to get everyone out.”
Brianna Hutchinson had the only hit for the Warriors, an opposite-field double to left in the sixth. Lebanon stranded two runners that inning, six overall.
“We were down in the count for the better part of the game,” Kindell said. “We just didn’t hit anything square. We couldn’t get a leadoff hitter and manufacture a run.”
Teays Valley (24-9) looked ready to end it in the seventh after Hannah Giammarino led off by bunting and getting to second base on an error.
Trainer struck out Meredith Keel and walked Ellis. Katelyn Loughman then popped up a bunt to Trainer, who threw to Kim Frank at first base for a double play.
“Stay positive. Stay up. We’re still playing softball,” Vikings coach Brenna Giesige said of her thoughts after that turn of events.
“I think after last Saturday when we gave up a five-run lead in the seventh inning and then Hayden hit a home run and then we held on, it was kind of like, ‘Anything after this is icing on the cake. Just enjoy the moment, enjoy the ride.’ ”
Rothwell wasn’t as overpowering as Trainer, but the right-hander was very solid. She struck out seven and walked three.
“In the first inning, I was like, ‘Come on Alyssa, you’ve got to hit your spots.’ But after that, she really did awesome. She hit every spot I called,” Ellis said. “Her rise ball and her drop-curve were working very well. If we can get those two pitches to work, I think that we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
Giesige said Teays Valley has come a long way since starting the year with an 8-8 record.
“Once we got rolling and the tournament started, I guess in the back of my head I saw a possibility (of a state title),” she said. “I didn’t want to say anything, and you don’t want to jinx anything. For the town of Ashville, Commercial Point, all our little schools in Pickaway County, I think it’s amazing.”
Added Ellis, “Being the 21 seed in the district tournament is like crazy. No one thought we’d make it out of districts. Talking to parents, everyone, no one thought we would. To come out here and be a state champion is one of the greatest feelings in the world. I can’t even explain how it feels right now.”
The feeling on the Lebanon side was just as strong, but not nearly as enjoyable.
This was supposed to be the Warriors’ year. They have three Division I signees — Trainer (Indiana), Frank (Toledo) and Hannah Huffman (Kentucky) — in a five-member senior class that includes Jordan Crawford and Madyson Hollon.
Kindell said his seniors carried themselves “with the utmost class and character that you possibly can. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do for four years. They’ll be missed, and we love them.”
As painful as the defeat was, Reed said the team walked away with a tremendous amount of pride.
“You could feel the emptiness of falling short, but we knew that our goal was big,” she said. “We came in determined, and we came out still full of pride because we had an undefeated season. You don’t hear that very often.”
And Reed said Lebanon’s run of success is far from over.
“Next year, we’re going to push even harder,” she said. “We know how much we wanted it this year, and I think now we want it even more. I’m ready to win it.”
Lebanon 000-000-00—0-1-1
Teays Valley 000-000-01—1-1-0
WP — Alyssa Rothwell (17-7); LP — Tara Trainer (19-1); HR — TV: Rothwell. Records: L 33-1, TV 24-9.
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