Grevenkamp and Harrison strung together back-to-back doubles to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning in a Division I regional semifinal at the University of Dayton on Friday, May 28.
That proved to be enough as the Thunderhawks (25-5) beat Lebanon, 1-0 to advance to today’s regional final against Lakota West.
“Coach (Steve) Castner told us that (Lebanon pitcher Bethany) Campbell was throwing a lot of outside pitches so I went up to the plate looking for a low outside pitch,” Grevenkamp said.
“I think she threw the same pitch to end my first at-bat, so I got up the second time and let loose. It felt good.”
Grevenkamp blasted Campbell’s second pitch of the at-bat off the center-field fence. Harrison followed with a first-pitch line drive into the right-center field gap.
“I was looking outside and low,” Harrison said. “That’s what I was expecting and I just tried to put a bat on it.”
Lakota East pitcher Sara Pearson made the one-run lead stand. She allowed only two hits — singles by Campbell and Vanessa Lay —mixed speeds and kept the Warriors (28-3) off-balance.
“I thought Sara Pearson did a real nice job keeping the kids we rely on to manufacture runs off base and working out of jams when we did get on base,” Lebanon coach Brian Kindell said. “We couldn’t string together anything or get the hit when we needed it. She did a great job today.”
Pearson struck out five while improving to 16-4 on the season. Campbell (27-3) allowed four hits and struck out three.
“Early on, Campbell had our number, we weren’t getting anything solid on the ball,” East coach Steve Castner said. “From the fourth inning on though, we hit pretty decent.
“We played really well. We didn’t give them any second chances, but they didn’t give us any, either. We just happened to put together a couple of hits and they happened to not. Fortunate for us.”
The regional final game between Lakota East and Lakota West is scheduled for 5 p.m. today at the University of Dayton softball field.
Contact this reporter at
(513) 696-4526 or shayes@coxohio.com.
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