Southeast District Division II
No. 4 Logan Elm 10, No. 12 Waverly 0 (5 innings)
ATHENS — Logan Elm had some timely hits and limited Waverly’s baserunners in advancing to Friday’s district final 10-0 in five innings.
“What we wanted to do was we wanted to come out and start fast and set the tone right away. We were locked in from start to finish,” Logan Elm coach Jamey Binkley said. “At times this season, we maybe played really good in the first few innings, really good in the end but I felt like we put it together tonight. This was probably the best game we’ve played all season.”
After a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, LE started the bottom of the inning with Lynsay Vanhoose slapping the ball to shortstop for a single.
Following an out, Ryleigh Wolfe doubled which was followed by a single to right field by Jaycie Clifton that drove in Vanhoose and Wolfe would score on the play as well with Clifton advancing to second.
Lucy Caplinger singled to put runners on the corners.
Peyton Richendollar was next to the plate, Caplinger took second and then Richendollar doubled a 1-0 pitch to left to bring in Clifton and Caplinger and give the Braves a 4-0 lead.
After a scoreless second, Sadie Binkley got the Braves’ third going with a leadoff single.
Katie Wilson (running for Binkley) stole second and third. Following a popup, Clifton came to the plate and singled to score Wilson.
Caplinger walked and then Richendollar hit her second double of the night to drive in Maleah Gardner (running for Clifton) and put LE up 6-0.
A wild pitch allowed Caplinger to score and Richendollar to move up a base. Taylor Fowler then hit a grounder to shortstop that brought Richendollar across the plate to make the score 8-0.
Waverly put a threat together in the top of the fourth.
Caris Risner led off the inning reaching on an error. After a strikeout, the Tigers broke up Sadie Binkley’s no-hitter with a double to put two runners in scoring position. But LE put an end to the threat getting the next two batters out.
LE got its advantage to 10 when Brittani Lane opened the bottom of the fourth with a single and Vanhoose followed by reaching on an error.
After a flyout, Wolfe singled to center and Lane and Vanhoose were both able to score on the play.
Aubree Fraley tried to start a Tigers’ rally when she led off the fifth with a single.
Binkley recorded her ninth strikeout of the night which brought Jo Colley to the plate.
Colley lined the first pitch she saw right at Clifton who was playing tight along the first base line. She snagged the ball and turned around to put the tag on Fraley for a game-ending double play.
“We’ve been working on positioning, pitch calling and knowing where the batter is and trying to be in a spot to make a play. It’s not all luck, they don’t hit it right to you all the time,” coach Binkley said. “If you’re in the right spot it helps, and Jaycie was hugging that line and caught that line drive. If it had got by her, that girl might have scored, and we’d still be playing.”
Richendollar had two doubles and three RBI, Clifton went 2-3 with three RBI and Wolfe went 2-3 with two RBI.
Sadie Binkley pitched a two-hit shutout, struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter.
“Sadie pitched great. I thought our at-bats were really, really good,” coach Binkley said. “We did little things to move runners, little things that could score and get runners around. That’s what led to the score tonight.
“We’ve really been focusing on doing those little things and trying to be selfless. When you get two strikes, we always say the first two are yours, the last one is for your team, and you’ve got to move the runner and score runs that way.”
The Braves (18-8) will need more of those quality at-bats when they return to Athens Friday for their shot at a district title. Standing in their way will be top-seeded Sheridan. The Generals (22-3) were a 4-1 winner over Athens in the first game Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
