Just over a week after its epic comeback triumph over Lakota West in the regional semifinals, top-ranked Lebanon overcame a 6-4 deficit to conquer North Canton Hoover 8-6 in a state semifinal at Firestone Stadium.
“I don’t think the mood changed from the beginning of the game,” said senior pitcher Taylor Lewis, who threw 3.1 innings in relief of classmate Alexis Strother to pick up the win. “I think since that West win, everyone just knows to stay positive and cheer each other on.
“We’re all going to pick each other up at some point. We were all lecturing each other saying, ‘We got this, we got this,’ and that was it.”
Chloe Allen had three hits and Madison Hartman drove in two runs for the Warriors (30-3), who ended Hoover’s amazing winning streak at the state tournament. The Vikings were 16-0 with eight championships at the state level before Thursday.
Lebanon, state qualifiers in 2012, 2014 and 2015, will face Elyria for the title Saturday at 10 a.m. The Pioneers (21-4) defeated Gahanna Lincoln 6-4 in Thursday’s first semifinal.
“No matter what the deficit is, we’re not out of it with our offense,” said Warriors coach Brian Kindell, mentioning the rousing win over West. “I think our seniors really believe that things like that are possible, but until the younger players see it, it’s harder for them to believe.
“I think that sent a message throughout our team that anything’s possible. As I say, if you’re alive in the tournament, you’re dangerous.”
Just like she did in the West game, Lebanon sophomore Ashley West provided the game-winning hit against Hoover (21-10).
West’s RBI double to left-center, a one-hopper off the fence, plated Hartman and snapped a 6-6 deadlock. Grace Gressly followed with an RBI single, her second hit of the day.
“Again, I was thinking, ‘I have to do this,’ ” said West, who had popped up twice and walked prior to her double off Grace Vesco. “We needed to be able to go into the seventh inning up. That extra run just lets the pressure off your back and allows you to breathe.”
Hartman, who delivered a two-run single during the Warriors’ four-run third inning, said beating Hoover was particularly sweet. The Vikings topped Lebanon in Akron in 2012 and 2014.
“It’s a little bit of revenge for us,” Hartman said. “With them going undefeated at state, obviously they have a lot of pressure on themselves trying to stay perfect. The good thing about us is we know that everything’s not going to be perfect, so we know how to react when things go wrong. We know how to turn them back in our direction.”
Allen continued to be a leadoff demon for the Warriors, reaching base four times (three singles and an error) and scoring twice. The senior also made an outstanding catch near the fence in left field to strand a pair of Hoover runners in the first inning.
“Any way you look at it, any way you rearrange the order, we still come out strong because everyone on this team is a great hitter,” Allen said. “Once we started hitting, there was not a doubt in my mind that we were going to come out the winners in this game.”
Kindell said her first-inning catch was huge.
“I don’t know how she does it sometimes,” he said. “But she gets to balls out there and it’s diving and you’ve got body parts flying everywhere, but somehow Chloe catches the ball. We haven’t figured it out, but Chloe has, and it works.”
Said Allen, “It was the same as the Lakota West game. There’s runners on second and third, the ball was hit straight to me with two outs, and I somehow managed to not catch it. So I knew that ball was coming to me today. I was a little spastic at first, but somehow I managed to catch it.”
The Vikings climbed out of a 4-0 hole by scoring six two-out runs in the fourth. No. 9 hitter Lauren Massolini launched a three-run homer, the only long ball of the senior’s prep career, and Laurel DeVoe added a two-run homer down the left-field line.
“We know they’re really, really good. We’ve seen it for years,” Kindell said. “The names change, but the talent and the results don’t necessarily change.”
Hoover coach Jerry Goodpasture said his squad was doomed by its four errors, a rarity for this program.
“That kind of put a damper on everything,” Goodpasture said. “Lebanon deserved to win. It’s not like we lost to a fluky team. They put pressure on us offensively and that contributes to some of the mistakes that you make.”
Massolini and DeVoe both had two hits for the Vikings, while Kaitlynn O’Donnell delivered an RBI double. Massolini’s home run gave Hoover a jolt of energy. She was the last batter Strother faced before Lewis came on in relief.
“I was going up there with two outs and a 4-0 score. I just thought at that point we have nothing to lose,” Massolini said. “I saw that first-pitch screwball that he called a strike on me, and I just knew if I got that pitch again … that’s my favorite pitch. When I hit that over the fence, I wasn’t expecting it, but I was pretty excited.”
DeVoe walked to lead off the seventh, but the next three Vikings were retired by Lewis. Hoover’s sixth inning had ended when O’Donnell hit a liner at Strother, who completed an unassisted double play at first base.
“That was just kind of like an esteem killer,” DeVoe said of the DP. “I thought we could come back and rally after that, but it just didn’t happen.”
For Lebanon, Lewis allowed just one infield single in the final 11 batters she faced. Her start in the fourth wasn’t so good — Katie Yun walked, O’Donnell doubled, DeVoe went deep and Grace Cea walked.
“Obviously it was a little tense in the circle,” Lewis said with a smile. “But I know that offensively and defensively, everyone on this team has my back when I’m in the circle. I just had to take a deep breath and realize what kind of game we were in and readjust.”
Madison DeGennaro, Alex Gibson and Molly Osborne all contirbuted RBIs for Lebanon.
Kindell loves the contributions he’s getting across the board, even from the players who are just running. But he’s not surprised.
“It seems things are clicking right now,” Kindell said. “They had some errors, and we hit a lot of balls hard. Top to bottom, it’s a very difficult order to ahndle. Our speed gives us the ability to take advantage of some things.”
Saturday will mark the Warriors’ third appearance in a state final. Lebanon lost to Hoover in 2012 and Ashville Teays Valley in 2015.
No Southwest Ohio team has ever won a Division I state crown. Hamilton (1985) and Fairmont East (1982) were Class AAA champions.
“It’s time. We’re ready,” Hartman said. “We have the confidence for it and we have the lineup for it and we have the players on the bench for it.”
Hoover 000-600-0—6-7-4
Lebanon 004-112-x—8-10-0
WP — Taylor Lewis (13-2); LP — Grace Vesco (18-9); HR — H: Lauren Massolini, Laurel DeVoe. Records: H 21-10, L 30-3
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