By Garth Shanklin
Sports Editor
A magical season came to an abrupt end for the Williamsburg Wildcats’ softball team last week.
The squad traveled to Firestone Stadium in Akron on June 2 for the state semifinal match-up against the Crestview Lady Knights, a team that has dominated Division IV since the division came into existence in 2001.
This year was no different, unfortunately for Williamsburg, as Crestview rode a seven-run second inning to a 10-1 victory.
Williamsburg starter Kacey Smith allowed a leadoff base-hit but settled down in the first, retiring the next three batters on ground balls to end the frame.
In Williamsburg’s half of the inning, the Lady Wildcats used a single, an error and a hit-batter to load the bases with no outs. However, Morgan Gullett flew out to left field, Rylee Clark’s bunt attempt resulted in an out at the plate, and Makayla Kirschner grounded out to second base, ending the inning.
Williamsburg head coach Rick Healey said he believed the game could have gone differently had the Lady Wildcats been able to scratch a run across the plate in the frame, but the team’s pitching would still have been a huge question mark.
“It still would’ve been a big hurdle, but we still would’ve been in the same boat trying to figure out who to pitch,” Healey said.
Both teams would threaten in their respective second innings, but neither pushed a run across.
The wheels fell off for Williamsburg in the top of the third. Smith had been battling illness for the last few weeks, and it appeared to have caught up with her. She allowed five hits, two walks and seven earned runs in the frame, digging a hole the Lady Wildcats would not be able to get out of.
The struggles faced by the Lady Wildcats early in the game could be directly traced to the troubles Smith had in the circle. Healey said she got sick enough to where she nearly had to leave the stadium completely and go to the hospital.
“We thought we were going to put an IV in her [Smith] just to try to keep her from being transported to the hospital,” Healey said. “Carly [Wagers], she’s been on medication for the last week trying to get over pneumonia. We’re trying to figure out, OK, who’s our next pitcher. Who wants to give it a shot? Regardless of what happened to us, the team we played, they’re solid. They’re a very, very talented team. Well-coached.”
Wagers would get the call to replace Smith in the circle with one out in the third. After a leadoff single, the sophomore settled down in a big way for the Lady Wildcats. She struck out the last two batters of the third inning, then retired two more hitters via punchout in the fourth. In the fifth inning, Wagers tossed just nine pitches while striking out the side.
Another strikeout in the top of the sixth inning meant the Williamsburg hurler had struck out eight out of her first 11 batters.
Teammate Peyton Fisher said Wagers is extremely competitive, which is why she was able to fight through her illness.
“She doesn’t like to lose,” Fisher said. “She’s so competitive and she can step up in any situation when we need her.”
Wagers’ performance kept the Lady Wildcats in the game, but the offense struggled against Crestview’s Jada Preston. Preston tossed a complete-game, allowing nine hits and one earned run while striking out eight.
Healey said the team didn’t fold once they found themselves facing the largest deficit they had faced this season. Instead, he told them to stay positive, noting the team had scored runs in bunches before.
“The most we’ve ever had scored on us was five,” Healey said. “When we had the bad inning and gave up seven, the message became ‘We’ve scored more than that in every game we played. Stay focused and good things will happen.’”
Megan Ogden said she believed nerves played a role in the team’s performance, adding that once the Lady Knights scored their seven runs the nerves got worse.
“The stress of the game, honestly,” Ogden said. “There were too many girls that were nervous…Once we gave up the seven runs, the nerves just [became] extreme.”
Healey said the team had been able to apply that kind of pressure to other teams throughout the year, but this time they found themselves on the wrong end of it.
“It kind of reversed itself,” Healey said. “We have been on the seven runs where we scored and we could see the other team starting to fold. It twisted back on us.”
The team’s season may not have ended the way they wanted it to, but the team received support from the community throughout their postseason run. It did not go unnoticed by the players, specifically senior Morgan Gullett.
“We had a lot of hometown support, which was awesome,” Gullett said. “We probably had 300 people come out when we left…We kind of got comfortable, because we just kept winning. That kind of showed today, because we didn’t know how to lose. One game is one game, but it’s the wrong game to lose.”
Crestview went on to defeat Steubenville-Franklin 3-2 to win the school’s third state championship. Williamsburg will look to use this experience to make a return trip to Akron next season, according to Healey.
“Last year, we got to the regional finals and it was like, ‘OK, let’s get that experience and get up to Akron,’” Healey said. “This year, we made it to Akron. For my two seniors, they won’t have that opportunity but they led this team to where we hopefully will be back here next year and get into the finals because we’ve had that experience.”
The majority of the Lady Wildcats will return next season. The team will lose three seniors: outfielder Savannah Rohne, Gullett, and Ogden. The latter pair served as the two main catching options for the Lady Wildcats, and as such will be tough to replace.
“Throughout the season, they somewhat rotated but they’re two people who are going to be dearly missed and hard to replace,” Healey said.
Regardless of what happens next season, this year’s team became the first of any kind to make it to the state semifinals at Williamsburg, and as such Healey said he will forever be attached to the squad.
“These girls are special to me,” Healey said. “They always will be.”