BYESVILLE — Taking care of business. That was the goal of No. 2 seed Meadowbrook High during Monday's Division III sectional semifinal game with No. 15 seed St. Clairsville.
The Colts accomplished that goal, shaking off a sluggish start to roll to an 11-1 six-inning victory over the Red Devils to advance to Thursday's D-III championship game.
"We needed to get that first win to get where we want to go," Meadowbrook coach Sean Frizzell said. "It's tournament time and its all about winning and moving on. They are a young team and we were able to take advantage of some pitching mistakes they made."
That destination Frizzell referred to is a return trip to the OHSSA regional tournament, after last year's impressive postseason run that ended with a regional berth.
"Last year we made that nice run," Frizzell said. "And we are hoping we can put together another one this year. We took the first step, now it's on to Coshocton or Union Local, whoever comes out of that matchup. We had a tournament game tonight, tomorrow we have Senior Night, then a sectional title game on Thursday. It's hectic, but we will be ready."
Sluggish start, fast finish for Colts
Underdog St. Clairsville opened up the scoring with a first-inning unearned run off Meadowbrook sophomore starter Addy Sichina for a quick 1-0 lead.
The Red Devils managed to maintain that 1-0 edge through two innings as the Colts offense started slowly.
"They got that first run off Addy, but it really wasn't earned with the error we had," Frizzell said. "But she stayed strong, and was very consistent. Addy does not rack up the strikeouts, but she gets them to put the ball on the ground and let's her defense work, which is what you want in high school softball."
Sichina allowed just three hits with six strikeouts and issued one walk in picking up the pitching win for Meadowbrook, which improved to 16-9 on the season.
And with Sichina putting up zeros from the pitching circle, the Colts' offense came alive against Red Devils starter Lilly Price, who would suffer the loss.
Price allowed six runs on six hits with two strikeouts and two walks in four innings of work.
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After being held scoreless in the first two innings, Meadowbrook would score in every inning the rest of the night starting with a four-run third inning to take control for good at 4-1.
In the third frame, the Colts banged out four hits to get the bats cranked up with Sichina ripping an RBI double, while sophomores Sommer Ginn and Jordyn Vargeson each collecting RBI base hits.
Meadowbrook banged out a total of 11 hits in the opening round tournament win. Vargeson led the way with a solid 3-for-4 effort with three singles and three RBIs. Ginn added a double and a single with two RBIs, and senior Hailey Fordyce finished with two singles with an RBI.
Sichina singled and doubled with an RBI. Juniors Alexx Combs smacked an RBI double and Addy Wiggins singled with a pair of RBIs.
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Meadowbrook will host No. 14 seed Coshocton at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Division III sectional championship game. The Redskins advanced with a 10-0 win over Union Local in the Monday's other semifinal matchup.
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This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Meadowbrook rolls past St. Clairsville for spot in D-III sectional championship game
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