Bath’s Kyree Stumbaugh pitches against Shawnee during Tuesday’s Division II sectional semifinal at Bath High School.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
BATH TOWNSHIP — Bath’s 5-0 win over Shawnee in a Division II softball sectional semifinal on Tuesday was the second time this season the Wildkittens have beaten the Indians behind the shutout pitching of sophomore Kyree Stumbaugh.
Stumbaugh allowed four hits, struck out two and walked one. She also had a complete game shutout when Bath defeated Shawnee 6-0 on April 18.
The Wildkittens made the most of only four hits, including three runs in the bottom of the first inning on just one hit and scoring another run in the third inning without getting a hit.
“We battled, just like we did in that first game. Anytime you’re facing a WBL opponent they will give you a run for your money, so we knew we needed to come out strong,” Bath coach Hannah Slavin said. “We played well behind our pitcher and Kyree did a good job on the mound. I thought our defense made some tough plays look routine and also made the routine plays.
“We took advantage when we did get on base. We executed our base running pretty well. We executed a bunt in a key situation. We put the ball in play and put the pressure on the defense a little bit,” she said. “I was proud of our girls that even though we weren’t putting a ton of hits on the ball that when we did get on base we were able to execute.”
Bath’s leadoff hitter Mara Davis started the bottom of the first inning with a walk, moved up on a wild pitch on ball four to Claire Armentrout, and then scored on another wild pitch. Tea Sibert doubled to score Armentrout to make it 2-0 and took third base on a throw to the plate. Anne Oliver’s groundout to shortstop scored Sibert.
Davis walked again to start the third inning, went from first to third on a sacrifice bunt by Olivia Foster, and then scored on the first of three Shawnee errors in the inning.
In the fifth inning, Foster doubled and scored on a single by Sibert, who went 2 for 3 and drove in two runs.
Bath’s second-round sectional game will be Friday at No. 1 seeded Bryan, which beat the Wildkittens 10-0 on April 20.
“We know it will be a challenge. We played them earlier this year and kind of got spanked around a little bit but the good news for us is I don’t know that we could have played worse. Bryan is a strong team with good pitching, good defense, good hitting. But I think our girls have a totally different mindset going into Friday and they’re ready to compete,” Slavin said.
Shawnee’s Addy Neth was on base all three times she went to the plate with a double, a single and a hit-by-pitch.
Bath 5, Shawnee 0
Division II Sectional Semifinal
Score by innings:
Shawnee 000 000 0 — 0 4 3
Bath 301 010 x — 5 4 0
WP — Kyree Stumbaugh (2 strikeouts, 1 walk; LP — Riley Rhodes (6 strikeouts, 4 walks)
3B — Maddy Hartman (S)
2B — Addy Neth (S), Olivia Foster (B), Tea Sibert (B)
Records: Bath 11-9; Shawnee 7-15.
