With a young team that includes five sophomores and a freshman in the starting lineup, Riverside softball coach Andy Phelps hoped his team would show a lot of growth from the beginning to the end of the season this spring.
That is exactly what has happened for the Pirates.
Riverside on Friday captured a Division IV district championship after outlasting Ft. Loramie 2-1 in 10 innings at Newton High School.
The Pirates (15-10) advance to face Covington (27-4) in a regional semifinal at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Northmont High School.
“Something we strive for is to be prepared for these types of games,” said Phelps. “We have a really young team, but they have worked hard and they have grown up very quickly.
“Playing in a conference like we do against great teams like Covington, Miami East and Milton-Union, it really gets you ready for games like we had today.”
Both pitchers were strong in the circle Friday, with Ft. Loramie grabbing a 1-0 lead on passed ball in the third inning.
But Riverside clawed out a tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Jade Copas came up with an RBI sacrifice fly to plate Aubree Huston.
After neither team could score in the eighth and ninth, Riverside pitcher Alaina Snow kept Ft. Loramie off the scoreboard again in the top of the 10th to give the Pirates a chance to win it in the bottom of the 10th.
Copas reached leading off the Pirates’ 10th on a single.
After an out and a hit by pitch to get Copas to second, Zoie Armbruster singled up the middle, allowing Copas to come around with the winning run.
Snow struck out 12 in getting the win for the Pirates.
“If you have a great pitcher in softball, you can win a lot of games,” said Phelps. “Alaina threw another great game today, and our defense was tremendous. We didn’t make any errors and we were able to come up with some timely hits at the plate.”
The Pirates will now get another crack at Covington after losing 10-2 and 18-5 to the Buccs in Three Rivers Conference games this season.
“They are a very tough team, but in both games we played them close through the first four or five innings,” said Phelps. “We made some mistakes and things got away from us a little bit. But if we come out and pitch well and play good defense again, and play well for all 21 outs, I think we have a shot at beating them.”
RIVERSIDE 2, FT. LORAMIE 1
(10 INNINGS)
Redskins 001 000 000 0 — 1 8 1
Pirates 000 000 100 1 — 2 8 0
WP—Snow.
