Lady Cats Fall In Semistate FinalsLAKEVILLE – There are ups and downs in every sports season. Whitko’s softball team experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows Saturday at the 2A LaVille Semistate tournament.
The high for the No. 10 Lady Wildcats came in the semifinals, when sophomore pitcher Ellie Snep scored from first on senior Andrea Snavely’s double to hand Whitko a 1-0 walk-off win over No. 2 South Adams.
The low point was in the title game, as No. 1 Elwood dominated in a 13-0 five-inning no-hitter over Whitko, ending the season for the Lady Cats.
There were no cheapies among Elwood’s 14 hits, including four doubles and a home run. After scoring a single run in each of the first two innings, the Lady Panthers exploded for six runs in the third frame, capped by leadoff hitter Emily Bookers’ three-run homer.
Whitko played arguably its worst game of the season. The Lady Wildcats committed six errors; four fielding and two throwing. Snavely was the only Lady Cats batter to reach first against Elwood senior pitcher Mackenzie Bryan, reaching on an error in the second inning.
Coming off the emotional high of the afternoon game, Whitko coach Michele Garr thought her team would give Elwood fits. Instead, it was the Lady Panthers who took the wind from the Whitko sails.
“I thought they were ready to go. I thought they had their heads in the game,” the emotional coach said. “We just ran out of steam.
“You just have to be on your game, and ... we just cracked. What can you say? We had a great season. I’m so stinking proud of them. This score does not reflect them at all. They just wore out. We booted the ball, which we really haven’t done too much of that.
“They have a great pitcher, kudos to her, and I wish them good luck next week at state.”
Getting run-ruled one game short of the state title tilt shouldn’t detract from the accomplishment of getting that far in the postseason, according to Garr.
“I told them after the game they should be super-proud of themselves. They made school history; nobody’s ever got this far. They were one of four teams left in the state. There’s nothing to be upset about, even if I’m crying like a (fool) right now. They should be proud of what they accomplished this year.”
In the afternoon game, Whitko dodged several bullets. In each of the last four innings South Adams had at least one runner in scoring position with less than two outs and failed to score.
Snep struck out 10 Lady Starfire batters before singling with one out in the seventh and scoring on Snavely’s double. Snep was the only Whitko runner to get past second base.
Once Snavely’s hit got past the South Adams outfielders, “it was all adrenaline,” Snep said. “We wanted this so bad and we worked so hard. It was an awesome feeling.”
Elwood (27-4) will take on No. 6 Indianapolis Scecina Memorial (25-4) Saturday for the 2A state title. Whitko finished with a 24-6 record.
