Southeastern (22-4) advanced to play either Waynesfield-Goshen or Lima Central Catholic in a D-VII regional semifinal game next Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. They last advanced to the state’s Sweet 16 in 2014.
“It felt great,” said junior pitcher Reese Wells. “We all came out and had a lot of energy. It was a really great game and we all had a lot of fight. We had some errors, we had some mistakes but we all didn’t hang our hats on them and we came back and fought.”
After three straight district final losses, the Trojans committed to breaking through to the regional tournament, said Southeastern coach Kaitlyn Blair.
“It feels great to finally break through and what I do appreciate is that every year we’re building,” Blair said. “When one group leaves, we’re instilling in the next one that we’re getting to districts and we’re getting through districts. This year we’ve really focused, ever since we got in the gym on Feb. 17, we said, ‘We’re getting through districts this year.’ Every rep, every game, everything was to push us through and we finally did it.”
Bradford sophomore Lily Canan hit a solo home run and sophomore Addy Mills had two hits as the Railroaders finished the season 11-16.
Southeastern’s Reese Wells threw seven innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with 12 strikeouts and seven walks. At the plate, she hit a game-tying, two-run homer to tie the game.
Trojans senior Allie Lewis went 2-for-4 with a triple, junior Kami Horner had a double and two RBIs and juniors Kaylee Billett and Addi Vanover each had an RBI for Southeastern, which improved to 22-4.
Lewis led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead. After Kaylee Wells walked, junior Gabby McNier singled, Horner doubled to right center to make it 3-0.
In the top of the second inning, Bradford sophomore Lily Canan homered over the right field wall to cut Southeastern’s lead to 3-1.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the third inning, Railroaders sophomore Vivian Harlemen hit a fly ball to right field that fell out of Trojans junior Morgan Watson’s glove, plating all three runners. Bradford’s Mills followed with a single, scoring Harlemen to make it 5-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, Lewis reached on an error and stole second to move into scoring position. Reese Wells smashed a no-doubt home run over the 190-foot left field wall to tie the game.
She knew it was gone immediately.
“I was so happy and excited for my team because it got us right back in it,” Reese Wells said. “I wanted to hit the ball hard and it felt great.”
The next inning, McNier led off with a single over the centerfielder’s head and pinch runner junior Joelie Henderson moved to second on an error by Bradford’s Mills. Junior Kaylee Billet singled to right field, scoring Henderson to give Southeastern the lead for good. A sacrifice fly by Vanover scored sophomore Morgen Watson from third base to make it 7-5.
Key play: With runners on first and second and two outs, Wells struck out Canan to end Bradford’s threat in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Key stat: The Trojans struck out just one time in the game. Bradford struck out 12 times, stranding runners in scoring position in the final three innings.
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