Grace Swank led the Central Noble Cougars to the school’s first-ever softball regional title Tuesday, striking out ten and blasting a two-run homer to beat South Adams, 4-3.
Bekah Patterson singled and later scored in the top of the first on a passed ball for the Stars, but Swank pounded an 0-1 pitch from Starfire starter Addie Baker out of the park to give the Cougars the lead.
Swank ran into major trouble in the third, her most difficult inning, when she hit both Shelby Weigel and Baker with two outs. A walk to Kenzie Neuenschwander loaded the bases, but the Cougars got the out at home with the force in play just two pitches later.
Avery Brown singled and scored to tie the game on an error in the fourth and Shelby Weigel continued her heroics with a double to score Reece Beitler, giving the visitors a 3-2 lead.
Central Noble allowed South Adams to have the lead for all of five pitches before Kennedy Vice and Kensy Kimmeel hit back-to-back doubles to even the score. A passed ball later in the inning allowed Kimmel to reach third and she came home to score on a groundout to the right side.
The Starfires got hits in the fifth and again in the sixth but could not find a second in either inning and Swank shut the Stars down in the top of the seventh, taking advantage of a controversial check swing call that struck out Neuenschwander for the second out.
With the count full, Neuenschwander fouled a pitch back against the hard-throwing Swank. Her next pitch was high and Neuenschwander held up her swing and ran down to first, thinking she had earned a walk. Instead, she was racked up for a swinging strike by the home plate umpire despite the protests of coach O’Dell and coach Taing. Neuenschwander asserted her claim of checking up by remaining on first base until finally being forced to head back to the dugout.
Central Noble won the game on the next pitch, making the play at third base to throw out the final batter and celebrate their first regional.
The Starfires ended their season with a solid 24-6 record and the improbable sectional title, won in walk-off fashion with Weigel’s home run on Saturday.
Bekah Patterson ended her outstanding career with an even .500 batting average and 15 extra-base hits.
Kenzie Neuenschwander finished her senior season with 32 RBI in the team’s 30 games.
Addie Baker led the team in RBI with 44 and home runs with five. Her senior season ended with 17 victories and 168 strikeouts.
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