Record offensive day propels Bradley softball into OHSAA state final
· Yahoo Sports
AKRON – Hilliard Bradley first’s softball state semifinal in its 16-year history featured hits that landed almost close enough for the batter to reach out and touch, loud doubles and triples off the wall and a few tightrope innings on defense.
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But the Jaguars treated their 12-4 rout of Centerville on June 3 at Firestone Stadium, one that featured a state tournament-record 20 hits, as a byproduct of what happens when the process is executed to near perfection.
“This is game (No.) 31 and they had put it together for 30 games by picking good pitches to swing at, playing good defense [and] communicating,” coach Kevin Moody said. “This year’s crew is one of the better-hitting crews we’ve had in a long, long time. You won’t get them to chase very often and they make it count. It doesn’t matter whether they have no strikes or two strikes. …
“Top to bottom, one through nine can be very dangerous.”
Four hits each for senior first baseman Taylor Nicholson and freshman shortstop Sammie Moody, three hits and four RBIs for junior third baseman Lainey Dennison and a 3-for-4 day for junior outfielder Sophia Lopez keyed the onslaught and sent Bradley (26-5) into the first all-central Ohio Division I final against Lancaster (24-7) at 3 p.m. June 4.
Bradley set the tone immediately, when junior pitcher Mickey Moody and Sammie Moody began the game with consecutive infield singles. Lopez’s sacrifice scored Mickey Moody for a 1-0 lead.
The Jaguars used a little bit of everything in the third, starting with a leadoff bunt single from Sammie Moody that traveled less than 10 feet.
Lopez followed with an RBI single to put Bradley ahead for good at 2-1. Dennison’s double made it 3-1 and sophomore infielder Addie Buck added an RBI single for a 4-1 lead on which Dennison deftly slid under the tag at home.
Bradley added its final run of the third after senior second baseman Avery Zwilling’s strikeout should have ended the inning, but she reached safely when the catcher overthrew first. That allowed Buck to score to make it 5-1.
“Every single at-bat, you have a plan going in [instead] of guessing,” Nicholson said. “We were able to adjust pretty fast to her. We talk a lot between at-bats so we can take information from each hitter and put it toward one’s own swing.”
Aubrey Allen’s single off pitcher Caitlyn Belcher’s leg in the fifth scored Dennison for a 6-2 lead.
Bradley scored twice in the sixth and four times in the seventh to put the game away.
All of that complemented a seven-strikeout pitching performance from Mickey Moody, who scattered nine hits and walked two.
Moody threw 34 pitches in the third but escaped with just one run scored. Much of that came in an 11-pitch at-bat that resulted in a strikeout of Chayse Adkins.
“That felt so good,” Moody said. “[The home plate umpire] wasn’t calling a lot of low pitches, so I had to really rely on placing my spots and spinning it through the zone. Usually I am a dropball-heavy pitcher and he wasn’t calling those and they weren’t really biting on them either.”
Lancaster reached its first state final with a 4-0 upset of previously undefeated Austintown-Fitch in the earlier semifinal.
Kileigh Rohr struck out four and scattered five hits, and Mia Griggs’ two-run double highlighted a three-run sixth inning for the Golden Gales, who defeated Bradley 7-5 on May 11.
The final will be the fourth championship game between two central Ohio teams and first since 2019, when Jonathan Alder defeated Lakewood in Division II.
“Very exciting for us and all of central Ohio,” Kevin Moody said. “We take great pride in central Ohio and what we’re trying to build in softball. [Lancaster] is very good and their defense plays hard. They are just a very good team. Hopefully we show up [June 4] like we did [June 3].”
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at [email protected] and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bradley softball to face Lancaster for OHSAA Division I state title