The Elks cheered and freshman pitcher Caitlyn Belcher was thankful.
Next, the Firebirds challenged Castle’s right arm. Lizzy Meyer lined a hard single to Castle, and with two outs, Jenna Dilley was waved home. But Castle’s bullet throw was on target and catcher Riley Bakan tagged out the sliding Dilley, held up her mitt with the yellow softball firmly grasped for the umpire to see and got the emphatic out call the Elks wanted.
“I knew I got her, and I knew our catcher would catch the ball and get her out,” Castle said.
The tone was irrevocably set.
The Elks scored five runs in the fifth and backed Belcher with solid defense to knock off Lakota West 8-1 for their second straight district title. The Elks will face Mason on Wednesday in the region semifinals for the second straight year at a site to be announced.
Last year the Elks defeated Mason 10-3. This year they will again face senior pitcher Alisha Fox, a player well-known to Elks coach Wendell Hutchinson who coaches her on a summer travel team. And the Comets are playing to keep successful longtime coach Liann Muff around as long as possible before she retires at the end of the season.
Mason (26-3) won all 18 of its Greater Miami Conference games and defeated Centerville 4-2 on April 18. The Elks are a deceiving 14-13. They have won nine of their last 12. Their schedule included 10 opponents that have been ranked in the top 10 in the state in multiple divisions.
“We have played arguably the toughest schedule in the state,” Hutchinson said. “I joked with the girls before the season started that we have 13 nonconference games and we could lose every one. We could win every one of them, but we won a few, but lost most of them, and they were all very competitive.
“If anybody looks at our record and then looks at our schedule, they’re going to understand that we’re going to be a very competitive team. We’re not going to show up against anybody and just get run over.”
The Elks showed from the start Thursday that they were not the least bit worried about their .500 record. Sophomore shortstop Natalie Carr led off the bottom of the first with a home run to center. Carr has three leadoff homers this season and had three hits, two RBIs and four stolen bases.
“She plays for a very high-level national travel team, and there’s nothing that we play against that she hasn’t faced over and over and over again,” Hutchinson said. “She’s confident and she’s athletic and she’s disciplined and she’s just fun to watch.”
Carr lined a two-out single in the second, stole second and third and scored on Bakan’s single. Carr walked with two outs in the fourth. With courtesy runner Jenna Kirkpatrick on third, Carr stole second and drew a throw that allowed Kirkpatrick to score for a 3-1 lead. Kirkpatrick stole second and third to set up her steal of home.
In the fifth, the Elks advanced a base at a time with four singles, an error and three walks to push the lead to 8-1. Hannah O’Connor, Slone Stillwell and Bakan walked with the bases loaded, and Chloe Jett and Carr singled in a run apiece.
“We were expecting to have a few more wins, but that’s not the case,” said Lakota West coach Keith Castner, whose team finished 14-9. “We wanted to go further than this, but we lost to a very good team.”
The Firebirds put the ball in play, but Belcher, who struck out six, kept the ball on the ground to do most of the work. Belcher didn’t throw a pitch from the first of November until the third week of March because of an injury.
“Honestly, I don’t feel like completely back to my normal,” she said. “I’m getting there as we go on through the season. It’s getting better.”
Hutchinson said Belcher’s command of her pitches isn’t what it was before the injury, but he’s pleased with the way his freshman has responded to adversity.
“She did a great job,” he said. “There were times where she was completely dominant in her command, and there were times where she lost it. She loves to compete, and I challenge her a lot, there’s no doubt about it. I get on her enough to where her skin’s getting a little thick.”
Through a 5-10 start to the season, the team’s skin also got thicker ... and tougher.
“We’ve fought through adversity every single game,” Castle said. “At this point we’re really starting to get ahold of everything.”
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