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Greenville
senior Erin Albright put the tag on Piqua's Shauntte
Whitfield on a play in the fourth inning Tuesday.
The Wave fell to the
Indians 5-0 in the season finale of the GWOC North schedule. Both the
Wave and the
Indians finished the conference with 9-1 records, sharing
the conference title.
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Lady Wave
forced to share conference title
Piqua turns the
tide on Greenville
By George Starks
GREENVILLE- Not even a 30 plus minute rain delay could slow down Piqua
senior pitcher Sierra Miller Tuesday.
After going to Piqua Monday and pulling out a 1-0 GWOC North victory in
the seventh inning, Miller and the Indians managed to turn the tide on
the Wave Tuesday.
Scoring two in the first and three in the seventh, Piqua posted a 5-0
victory over Greenville Tuesday, leaving the Wave with a 9-1 conference
record and a share of the North title.
“We don’t like to share things when it comes to Lady Wave softball,”
said Greenville coach Jerrod Newland. “The girls wanted this game
tonight and they wanted the banner all to themselves. Now, it will be a
co-champion and that’s not the way we like to do things here. We went
into Piqua, punched our ticket and they came in here and beat us. It’s
pretty tough for a team like this (Piqua) to get beat on their home
field then re-group, come in here and beat us on our field. It says a
lot about their five seniors and their coaching staff. Hats off to
them. They were playing for their first title in a while. We beat them
three out of four times and today was the fourth time. They were better
than us today. Our next goal is to win a district championship and that
started five minutes ago.”
Piqua scored all it needed in the first inning off sophomore pitcher
Ally Russell.
After Russell retired lead-off hitter Megan Anderson on a routine
pop-up to short, second baseman Alex Cox followed with a walk.
Lisa Cathell singled and one out later, both runners scored on a base
hit by catcher Catie McCawley to right.
That would be more than Miller would need as the senior would sit down
nine in a row before allowing a single to right by Russell to lead off
the fourth.
That single and a lead-off double in the fifth would be the only
two hits of the night by the Wave.
Greenville would get two more base runners in the seventh as Albright
and junior Karlee Lennon would draw back-to-back walks.
“You line it up, tee it up and you have two good teams going at it,”
said Newland. “They are just like us. They look in the mirror and they
are a 20-4 team and we are a 20-4 team and the better team won today.
Their pitcher is a great senior and works her game year around and
that’s what it takes.”
On the game, Miller allowed two hits and two walks while striking out
only four, letting her defense take care of business the rest of the
way.
“She has been surrounded by a great coaching staff and good players
behind her,” Newland stated. “We had a few opportunities and we scored
only one run off her in 14 innings. You had the two best pitchers in
the league going at it tonight and it all starts in the pitching
circle. Tonight was the rubber match. I wish we could line it up and
play the third one but that’s not going to happen.”
In the 10 conference games, the Wave gave up only seven runs in those
games, five on Monday to Piqua, earning them a share of the conference
title.
Despite allowing five runs to the Indians, Russell, from the second
through the sixth, matched Miller pitch for pitch.
In the four frames, Russell allowed one hit, a walk a hit a batter
while striking out only two.
“Russell threw a pretty good game tonight and kept us in it,” Newland
of his sophomore. “Tonight, the better team won.”
Now 20-5 overall, Greenville will play at Northmont Friday.
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Protecting the House
may have been the plan of Greenville coach
Jerrod Newland but it wasn't to be Tuesday at Lady Wave Stadium.
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