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CHILLICOTHE — For a few minutes on Monday, Wellston was experiencing flashbacks to how last season ended.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
However, that memory is also what propelled the Golden Rockets over the hump.
With the game on the line, Emma Ingalls ripped a game-winning RBI single to right field, lifting Wellston to a 3-2 victory over upset-minded Coal Grove in a Division III district semifinal.
“I honestly didn’t know [Coal Grove] intentionally walked two batters in a row, and then I heard my name being yelled, so I hurried up to get my stuff,” Ingalls said. “But honestly, everything happened so fast that I didn’t have time to think about anything or get in my own head, and that’s what helped me. She threw me an outside pitch and I drove it.”
Ingalls’ heroics in the end saved what was another dazzling performance in the circle from Hannah Potts, who took her game to another level.
With Coal Grove hitters unable to time her up for most of the game, she allowed just three hits, a pair of earned runs and sat down 16 batters on strikes throughout the night.
“This could have been our seniors’ last game and we’re not ready for the season to be over with, so I was locked in from the beginning,” Potts said. “Although I had a little trouble in one inning, I remained calm and talked positively to myself. I also knew my team had my back and that’s what helped me finish off the game.”
While Coal Grove pitcher Abbie Deeds had a solid day in the circle as well, striking out 10 batters, she couldn’t figure out how to get Maddie Childers out.
Leading off in the bottom of the first inning, Childers jumped on an 0-2 pitch and smoked a solo shot over the center field fence to put Wellston (19-6) ahead 1-0.
Two innings later, in the exact same scenario, the freshman delivered again with another solo bomb to center field, pushing the lead to 2-0.
“I faced 0-2 in both at-bats, and the next pitches in each at-bat were high. But I was just looking for something to drive,” Childers said. “We were starting slow and couldn’t string many hits together but I had to shorten up and hit something.”
It was all Childers, Potts and Wellston’s defense through five innings, but disaster struck in the sixth.
With a runner on first and two outs, Coal Grove’s Rylee Black laced an RBI double to put the Hornets (13-12) on the board. Braelie Hitchcock then tallied an RBI single in the next at-bat, scoring Black and tying the game at 2-2.
All of a sudden, the memories of last season’s district tournament loss to Crooksville in the final moments began to creep in.
“I definitely got a couple flashbacks, having the game completely in control until the final two innings,” Wellston coach Jim Hall said. “But I knew the girls were starting to connect a little more with their pitcher and getting the timing down, and I trusted they would escape the inning to give themselves a chance to win.”
Hall was right as Potts and company got the next four outs, setting up Ingalls to deliver the goods with the bases loaded in the seventh and extend Wellston’s season for at least another game.
Childers finished 2-for-3 with two home runs and two RBIs, followed by Ingalls going 1-for-2 with an RBI.
Wellston advances to a Division III district final at 1 p.m., Sunday at Unioto High School against top-seeded and defending state champion Wheelersburg.
Both teams squared off in a district final in 2021, with the Pirates coming away with a 10-2 victory. Needless to say, Wellston understands the task at hand.
“This wasn’t our best hitting game, that’s for sure. But we’ve been hitting the ball incredibly well over these last six games,” Hall said. “We have two games between now and Saturday, so that gives us a chance to get our bats going again. We’ll be much better hitting against Wheelersburg.”
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