WAPAKONETA – Longtime Parkway softball coach Mark Esselstein doesn’t take anything for granted.
He knows the importance of getting out to an early lead.
In Monday’s Division IV district championship game at Wapakoneta, Esselstein’s team set the tone early, scoring four runs in the first inning, and went on to soundly defeat Midwest Athletic Conference-foe Minster, 13-5.
With the victory, No. 3 Parkway (22-1) will take on No. 6 Williamsburg Wednesday at 2 p.m. in a regional semifinal at Greenville Softball Association Fields. Parkway has now won 21 straight games.
Parkway smacked 13 base hits off Minster pitching. Minster (18-11) managed to get nine hits for the game. However, eight Minster errors did not help its own cause.
“They’re a really good hitting team, and you never feel like you can never have enough runs,” Esselstein said. “They weren’t going to roll over and die, when we scored the four (runs) in the first inning. There was only one inning we didn’t score. The kids stayed back on the ball and put it in play. Minster helped us a little bit (errors), but we took advantage of that. We played smart on the bases. It was just nice having a nice working margin throughout the game.”
Minster starting pitcher Jenna Poeppelman lasted just 1 1/3 innings, before being lifted for reliever Laney Hemmelgarn, who moved over from her first base position. Poeppelman gave up seven runs on seven hits. The sophomore right-hander threw 43 pitches in her short work. She struck out one and walked four.
Hemmelgarn worked the rest of the game, giving up six runs on six hits. Hemmelgarn fanned one and walked four.
Haley Hawk worked all seven innings for Parkway. Hawk, the player of the year in the MAC, struck out three and walked three. Hawk tossed 87 pitches on the night. At the plate, Hawk led the way for the Panthers, going 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI. Hawk came into Monday’s game batting .562 with 10 homers.
“That’s the one thing we tried to emphasize this season – that you need to step on teams early,” Minster coach Robb Hemmelgarn said. “We wanted, coming into tonight, to put Parkway in a position that I don’t think they’ve been in this year – for us to step on them early and put them in that position. We didn’t do that. They stepped on us early. We been there all year long. We’ve been stepped on early, 8, 9, 10 games. We know how to react. Today, we reacted, but we just got
down too much in a hole. Eight errors against any team – let alone (to) the MAC champions, No. 3 team in the state in Parkway – is not going to win these games.”
In the first inning, Parkway scored four runs on four hits. Alyx Slusher had a double for the Panthers.
Parkway then plated three more runs in the second inning, on three hits, pushing its lead to 7-0. Hawk’s two-run homer ignited the Panthers.
Minster finally got on the board, in the top half of the third. Parkway then scored two more runs in the bottom of the third, on a two-run double by Hawk, making the score 9-1.
The Wildcats then plated two more runs in the fourth. Alice Schmiesing had an RBI single. Then, an error in the Parkway infield helped push Schmiesing in to score, cutting the deficit to 9-3.
However, Parkway tacked on a run in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to another Minster error, pushing its lead to 10-3.
In the top of the sixth, Minster cut the deficit to 10-4, on a fielder’s choice by Laney Hemmelgarn, which drove in Taylor Homan, who got on base with a fielder’s choice earlier in the inning.
Parkway then put the game out of reach in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three runs on two hits, extending its lead to 13-4. Mackenzie Sipe, who got on with a walk, eventually scored on a wild pitch. Hawk had an RBI single, while teammate Bailey Bates had a double to left that drove in a run.
In the top of the seventh, Minster added its final run of the game, on a sacrifice pop-up by Jordan Berelsman, driving in Karly Richard from third.
Defensively, Parkway was solid, committing just one error for the game.
“We’ve been a really good defensive team all year,” Esselstein said. “We made some really nice plays. Bailey (Bates, second base) turned a double play. We threw the ball around a little bit there at the end. We got to clean that up. But, Haley’s going to throw strikes for the most part, and teams are going to put the ball in play. But, we got confidence in our defense to make the plays that we need.”
It’s been a little while since Parkway has been to the regional tournament.
“It’s been four years,” Esselstein said. “Our slogan for the year is ‘Don’t stop’. We got stopped at this point the last couple years. We didn’t want to take a silver medal again. We’re district champions, undefeated MAC champions. We have a big challenge on Wednesday.”
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
