COLUMBUS GROVE – Miscues can come back to haunt a team.
In the case of Monday’s Northwest Conference girls softball showdown at Columbus Grove, errors were a big contributor to Allen East’s 5-4 victory over Columbus Grove.
Both teams came into Monday’s action undefeated in the NWC. Grove had not suffered a loss this entire season.
However, four costly errors for Columbus Grove (8-1, 3-1 NWC), helped keep the door open for Allen East (9-2, 3-0 NWC).
The pitchers for both teams were stellar Monday night.
Allen East pitcher Ariana Schmiedebusch worked the full seven innings for the win. Schmiedebusch scattered five base hits, while striking out nine and walking two batters. She also hit a batter, while throwing 103 pitches on the day.
Columbus Grove’s Teyah Sautter also went the distance in the circle. Sautter scattered six hits, while striking out 12 and walking three. She threw a total of 141 pitches in her complete-game effort.
“I don’t think we necessarily had the hits; we ran the bases well,” Allen East coach Bill Mattevi said. “It’s what we’ve been doing all year, and been keeping ourselves in games doing that. And luckily, we were able to pull it off.”
Allen East’s first run of the game was the result of an error, passed ball and a wild pitch in the first inning.
Lakin Basham, the No. 2 hitter for Allen East, got on base on an error. After a stolen base, Basham then advanced on a passed ball and then eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Columbus Grove bounced back, scoring two runs in the home half of the third. A double to left field by Lauren Birkemeier plated two runs for the Bulldogs.
Allen East added one run in the top of the fourth to knot the game at 2 apiece, thanks to another throwing error in the Grove infield.
Then, in the top of the fifth, the Mustangs scored two runs to take a 4-2 lead. Another error in the Grove infield helped pave the way for one of those runs.
However, the Bulldogs were not done.
Columbus Grove scored two runs in the sixth to knot the game at 4. A single by Tori Warnecke drove in Grace Schroeder, who got on with a two-out double.
In the seventh, Allen East’s Alishia Miller got on with a single to left. She eventually stole second, and then third. Then, Columbus Grove attempted to pick
Miller off at third base. An alert Miller was able to safely scamper to home plate to record, what would prove to be, the winning run for the Mustangs.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Allen East at all,” Columbus Grove coach Travis Gallmeier said. “They’re a good team. They took advantage of the mistakes we made. That’s what good teams do.”
Alyssa Young led Allen East at the plate, going 2-for-3. Madison Nusbaum led Columbus Grove with a 2-for-3 performance.
For the game, Allen East left six baserunners on base, while Columbus Grove left four runners stranded.
“Ariana Schmiedebusch stuck in there the whole game,” Mattevi said. “Their pitcher did an excellent job of keeping us at bay. We couldn’t touch her. She was jamming us, and we were getting sawed off all game. We don’t see many pitchers like her. Sautter is a great pitcher.”
Sautter struck out at least one batter each inning.
“Teyah did a heck of a job out there,” Gallmeier said. “We’re usually a little more defensively sound behind her. She’s battled all year long. She’s done a heck of a job out there in the circle.
“(It’s the) first league loss. I told the girls that it’s only one. There’s been years, many times, that one-loss teams still get a piece of it (league title). So, we’re not done. We still have games to play. We came in undefeated in both leagues (NWC and Putnam County League), but like I said, it’s only one loss and we still have a lot of games coming up.”
Added Mattevi, “They (Columbus Grove) came back and scored those two runs there in the bottom of the sixth and made it exciting. Every time we got ahead, they pulled within us. We were just lucky enough to get the last run, I guess.”
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