Southeast District Division II Championship
SB — No. 2 Unioto 2, No. 6 Circleville 1
ATHENS — Circleville made a late rally, but it wasn’t enough to upend second-seeded Unioto as the Shermans claimed a Southeast District championship 2-1 Friday.
“I’m proud of this team and we gave ourselves a chance there at the end,” first-year Circleville coach Hayden Ellis said. “I can tell you that I don’t think anybody thought we were going to make it to a district final this year with having two seniors and all freshmen and sophomores.
“I think a lot of girls really stepped up this year and stepped into a role that, maybe, they didn’t necessarily think they were going to do and they did it well. They worked hard, they listened and made adjustments and they were able to believe in themselves.”
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth.
The first two Unioto batters had been retired when Mackenzie Eisel singled to right field.
Alexis Book then broke the scoring drought with a big hit off the left field wall that brought in Eisel. A bad throw trying to get Book at third went into the dugout and Book was able to score for a 2-0 Shermans’ lead.
Circleville was set down 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth, as were the Shermans in the bottom of the inning.
With only one hit through the first six innings, Circleville started off the seventh with a double from Ella Michael. Maddie Blakeman hit a grounder to third base that was misplayed, and Circleville had two runners on.
A fielder’s choice by Kayla Fleck gave the Tigers runners on the corners.
Ally Thornsley came through with a fly ball to right that allowed Michael to tag and score to put the game at 2-1.
Facing two outs, a pop foul was corralled by Unioto catcher Abbie Marshall near the Tigers’ dugout to end Circleville’s rally and send the Shermans to next week’s regional semifinals.
Gabby McConnell was in the circle for the Tigers and yielded only four hits, walked only one and struck out three.
Hannah Hull got the win for the Shermans as she gave up only two hits, walked four and struck out four.
“I think both pitchers did a heck of a job,” Ellis said. “Unioto is a great hitting team and to keep them at two runs is something to be proud of.
“We couldn’t do the little things when we needed to and string some runs together when we had runners left on base. We lacked making adjustments early off of a pitcher who kept us off balance. She did her job and kudos to her for that.”
Circleville left six runners on base in the game while Unioto left three.
The Shermans (23-3) will be taking on Dover (25-3) Wednesday at 5 p.m. in a regional semifinal at Pickerington Central.
