Lakers headed to Final Four for first time
PLAIN CITY — The dream season continues for Indian Lake’s softball team.
The Lakers on Saturday made program history, earning a state Final Four berth for the first time after shutting out Miami East 6-0 in a Division III regional final at Jonathan Alder High School.
The Lakers (26-3) will face Johnstown (26-2) in state semifinal at 10 a.m. Thursday inside Firestone Stadium in Akron.
“It’s just crazy to think about,” said Indian Lake catcher Mackenzie Dixon, who went 4-4 with two RBI. “Back when we were on this same field (on April 14) and beat (last year’s Division II state runner-up) Jonathan Alder, that was the time when we realized we could do something like this. We knew we could be a really good team.”
Against the Vikings (19-7), Indian Lake continued its postseason domination.
Madison Brentlinger fired a two-hitter and the Lakers pounded out 10 hits as they pulled away in the later innings.
It was the fourth shutout in five tournament games for Indian Lake. The Lakers have outscored their opponents 50-2.
“I inherited this team,” said first-year Indian Lake head coach John Stahl, who previously served two stints as head coach at Benjamin Logan. “All the credit goes to the coaches before me, the girls, the school and the community.”
The Vikings put up a challenge early on for the Lakers.
It was a scoreless game through three innings.
“We weren’t doing a good enough job of putting the ball in play when we had runners on base,” said Stahl. “We left a lot of runners on base during the first few innings. I told the girls that we had to stop swinging for the fences and just get the ball in play. The third time through the order we started to get some good swings and made some things happen.”
Indian Lake broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Dixon led off with a single, and later in the inning Hannah Marlow drove in a run with a groundout to give the Lakers a 1-0 advantage.
Indian Lake made it 2-0 in the fifth on a two-out RBI single from Dixon.
The Lakers then broke it open in the bottom of the sixth, sending eight players to the plate and putting four runs on the scoreboard.
Abigail Elliott, Dixon and Brentlinger all had RBI hits in the sixth frame.
“We weren’t hitting the way we normally do in the first few innings, and we knew we had to pick it up,” said Dixon.
In addition to the four hits by Dixon, Brentlinger provided two hits and two RBI.
Brentlinger continued her stellar pitching, limiting the Vikings to a pair of singles. She struck out three and did not walk a batter.
The Lakers’ defense also was sharp behind Brentlinger, a trend that has been ongoing from the start of the spring.
“We knew they were a ground ball team,” said Stahl. “We’ve been pretty solid defensively all season, and boy, did the girls girls do it again today.”
Before jumping back in and getting to work ahead of Thursday’s state semifinal, Stahl said he wanted his team to enjoy the moment.
“The first thing we are going to do is celebrate this,” he said. “Then, we will do some research on our opponent and get ready for what’s next.”
Indian Lake 6, Miami East 0
Vikings 000 000 0 — 0 2 2
Lakers 000 114 X — 6 10 1
WP—Brentlinger; LP—Kadel.