Williamsburg sophomore pitcher Kacey Smith has not given up a run through four games in the postseason for the Lady Wildcats.

Williamsburg sophomore pitcher Kacey Smith has not given up a run through four games in the postseason for the Lady Wildcats.
By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

The Williamsburg softball team–s season came to a disappointing end on Saturday, May 30 in a 5-0 loss to Richwood North Union in the regional finals, two games short of playing for a Division III state title.

The Lady Wildcats finished the season 25-4 overall and 9-1 in the Southern Buckeye Conference – National Division.

League, sectional and district champions before their run came to an end, head coach Rick Healey said he was sad to see the season end, but happy to have been along for the ride.

“Every body was disappointed, but at the same time excited about the year that they had,” Healey said. “Through the good, through the bad, from being on the top of the world to the bottom of the world, they stayed together as a team. All of those different times when I saw team moments, that’s the highlight of the season (for me).

“The accomplishments and trophies, the ribbons and medals and whatever else, that’s all good and exciting, but to know that at any given time, we had 18 girls who truly cared about each other and wanted it as much for the others as they did for themselves, that’s the joy of coaching.”

Healey and his team had many more of those high points than low points throughout the 2015 season. Starting with winning the school’s first softball league title since 2001 and culminating with just the second regional final appearance in school history, the Lady Wildcats put together a campaign that will resonate with them for years to come.

“We have banners in our gym and I let them know whenever you come back to an event at Williamsburg and you look up in those rafters, you’ll be able to say I was a part of that team,” he said.

Facing a tough task on May 30, the loss can be attributed in some ways, Healey explained, to the energy expended just 48 hours earlier in the Lady Wildcats’ regional semifinal victory over Middletown Madison.

Spanning 10 innings and needing a come-from-behind rally, Healey likened how he felt on Friday morning to being hit by a Mack Truck. Adding insult to literal injury was that Burg had played the second half of the regional semifinal without their ace, Kacey Smith, who left the game in the top of the sixth inning with a hamstring injury.

Fortunately, freshman Carly Wagers was able to enter the circle from her regular post in center field to help the Lady Wildcats get passed Madison.

The quick turnaround on Saturday morning proved to be daunting as Williamsburg was only able to scrap together five hits in the regional final.

A 17-game winning streak and, more importantly, a season came to an end on the dirt of Wright State University’s softball field that day, but the return to prominence of a proud program had already taken place.

For three seniors — Kennedy Clark, Shelby Schaeffer and Faith Bickel — they can come back to Williamsburg and see that banner in the gym to remember their final season. Yet, for the rest of the Lady Wildcats, they feel they have unfinished business and Healey expects the experience of 2015 will help shape future tournament runs.

“Next year, hopefully when we make it back, the experience of knowing that we’ve been here before, knowing we can take a deep breath and just play our game will be huge,” he said. “That anxiety hopefully won’t be there and it’ll be more about having been (on that stage) and getting one more win to get up to Akron.”