By RICHIE HALL
ROSSVILLE – Sheridan softball coach Nicole Croddy had only word to say after her team powered its way to the Class 1A Sectional 54 championship at Rossville on Thursday.
“Phenomenal,” said Croddy. “That’s all I can say, phenomenal.”
Croddy had much more to say, of course. But that word is a good way to describe how far the Blackhawks have come. After missing a few weeks at the beginning of the season, Sheridan caught up quickly, and that culminated in a 15-5 sectional final win over the host Hornets.
It’s the Blackhawks’ first sectional title since 2007 and the program’s third overall.
“It feels really great,” said senior Allie Delph. “Just as a team, we came together and finally pulled it off.”
Croddy credited several things for the Blackhawks’ success: “The hard work we put in, the fundamentals we’ve broke down from the very beginning. They came together, they put their whole game together when we really needed it.”
Sheridan’s win is also satisfying because the ‘Hawks were unable to play at the beginning of the season due to COVID-19 issues.
“We were three weeks behind everybody else on starting due to COVID,” said Croddy. “We just kept plugging along, plugging along, and just kept stressing to them ‘team, team.’ And every little individual part and component of their game still comes together as a team.”
The Blackhawks took control of the championship game right away, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning. Katy Crail hit a single on the first pitch, then eventually scored on an Addyson Ream hit. Caitlin Neese doubled in Delph and Riley Reed, then Ream got home on Taylor Bates’ RBI groundout. Neese scored on Makayla Clark’s RBI groundout.
“It means a lot, just because were able to overcome all the restrictions with COVID and stuff, and haven’t had much of any practices or games,” said Neese. “It means a lot to win this.”
Sheridan added three runs in the fourth inning. Claudia Headlee got home on a passed ball, then Ream singled in Crail and Reed.
While the ‘Hawks led the whole time, Rossville never completely went away. The Hornets cut Sheridan’s lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run single.
Sheridan responded with five runs in the fifth inning. Crail’s single brought in Kaylee McDonald, then Delph batted in Maelei Casler. Crail then scored on a passed ball, and Ream doubled home Delph and Reed.
“I think we did great,” said Crail. “We executed really well. Maybe struggled a little bit at the beginning of the game, but at the end we pulled it together.”
The Blackhawks then played perfect defense in the fifth and sixth innings, going three-up, three-down both times. That included foul-territory catches by Casler in the fifth inning and Bates in the sixth inning.
Croddy pointed out that Sheridan is averaging less than two errors per game.
“Defense has been solid all year,” said Croddy. “That’s probably been one of our strongest parts of our game. We definitely have had strong pitching all year. Anybody we needed to step in has stepped in. But defense, we have been solid all year.”
Sheridan added two more runs in the seventh inning. Crail scored on Reed’s RBI groundout and Neese doubled in Emma Settles. Rossville scored a run with a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh, but the Blackhawks quickly got the next two batters with a groundout and a flyout.
Ream had a sensational game, going 4-for-4 at the plate and batting in five runs. She also pitched a complete game, striking out four and issuing no walks. Ream is part of a Sheridan pitching group that has been solid all season.
“I think we’ve all really worked together to keep the other teams off-balance and it’s helped us a lot and helped us to get here,” said Ream.
Crail went 4-for-5, scoring four runs. Neese hit two doubles and Kendra Blankenship had two hits, including a double.
Sheridan is now 13-6 for the season and play at North Vermillion Tuesday for the Regional 27 championship. North Vermillion beat Covington 7-1 to win Sectional 53 on Thursday.
SHERIDAN 15, ROSSVILLE 5
Sheridan AB R H RBI
Katy Crail 5 4 4 1
Allie Delph 3 2 1 1
Riley Reed 2 3 0 1
Addyson Ream 4 1 4 5
Caitlin Neese 4 1 2 3
Taylor Bates 5 0 0 1
Makayla Clark 5 0 0 1
Kendra Blankenship 3 0 2 0
Kaylee McDonald 0 1 0 0
Maelei Casler 4 1 1 0
Claudia Headlee 0 1 0 0
Emma Settles 0 1 0 0
Totals 35 15 14 13
Score by Innings
Sheridan 500 350 2 – 15 14 3
Rossville 200 200 1 – 5 7 3
2B: Neese 2, Blankenship, Ream. SB: Crail 2. SAC: Delph, Neese.
Sheridan pitching IP R ER H
Ream 7 5 1 7
Strikeouts: Ream 4. Walks: none.