Softball: Wapakoneta walks off with win against Lincolnview

WAPAKONETA — In a game that saw Wapakoneta and Lincolnview combine for 25 runs and 28 hits, it was a base on balls that decided the outcome.

Wapakoneta’s Kloie Knueve drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh to bring in Emily Vanhorn to record the walk-off, 13-12, win against Lincolnview in a wild and windy season-opening affair for both teams Saturday.

The thrilling contest featured two teams who last year saw a lot of success with Wapakoneta winning the Western Buckeye League with a 9-0 mark and Lincolnview which was the Division IV state runner-up last season.

Redskin head coach Bill Sammons talked about his team’s early season resiliency in a game where he watched his club break out to a 10-1 mark after two frames and then saw the Lancers slowly chip away at the lead until the sixth inning where Lincolnview scored five runs to take a 12-10 lead going into the final frame.

“They are one of the best teams in their division,” Sammons said. “You have to respect that team. They are probably going to be taking a run at the title this year. … One through nine hits like crazy and my pitching coach was on his toes the entire time.

“We knew 10 runs wasn’t going to win it. When it was 10-1, I said ‘listen 10-1 is not going to win this game,’ because I knew that they were great hitters. I knew we had to have a learning curve, and I hope we learned a lot today. I think the fight and the resiliency of the girls was huge. We talk about resiliency a lot, and I thought the girls resiliency was huge tonight.

Lancer head coach Eric Schawb said it was a rough start but his team also showed some resiliency of its own by erasing the nine-run deficit after the first two innings.

“There is a lot of outs in the game of softball and if you just chip away, and it is one out at a time, and good things happen when you just keep playing,” Schwab said. “It was a rough first inning in the first game of the season against a quality opponent. They came out and swung it pretty well in the first two innings.

“I told the girls it is inning by inning and out by out. There is a lot of ballgame left and then we started scoring there in the third and it went from there.

Lincolnview looked to carry that momentum to victory but this time it was Wapakoneta which produced a clutch comeback when it tallied three scores in the seventh to secure the win. The winning surge began with a base hit from Riley Pack followed by a single from Addison Fisher to put runners at first and second.

Those two Redskins advanced to second and third when Aubryn Schnarre laid down a sacrifice bunt and the strategy paid off when Carlie Schroeder delivered a double that drove in two scores to knot the game. Schroeder went 3 for 5 with two runs and and 3 RBI.

Lincolnview intentionally walked the next two Redskins to load the bases. A failed Wapakoneta squeeze play followed, setting up Knueve drawing the walk for the win. Knueve was 2 for 4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored.

Wapakoneta’s Fisher got the win in a roller coaster outing for the Redskin hurler as she allowed 11 hits while fanning four and walking three.

Fisher also delivered at the plate as she went 4 for 5 with 3 runs and 2 RBI and teammate Emma Boyer was 4 for 4 with 2 runs and an RBI.

Taking the hard luck loss was Sidney Fackler who came in relief and gave up three runs over 3 1/3 innings of work while fanning one and walking three. Fackler’s outing was one of the main reasons for the Lancers to comeback as she shutdown the Redskin bats after they scored 10 runs in the first two innings.

Offensively for Lincolnview, Taylor Post was 3 for 5 with a triple, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored and Addyson Stevens drove in two runs and scored twice. Lainey Spear had a two-run inside-the-park-home run that highlighted the the five-run sixth that gave the Lancers a 11-10 lead.

Reach Jose Nogueras at 567-242-0468.