Jun. 1—The Shawnee High School softball team saw its season end one game short of the Division V state tournament.
The Braves fell to defending D-III state champion Baltimore Liberty Union 4-1 in a D-V regional final game on Saturday afternoon at Centerville High School.
Braves junior Ava George went 2-for-3 for Shawnee, which finished its season 25-4.
“It was a really special season,” said Braves coach Gary Baugh. “We only carried three seniors this year, so we’re hoping to rebound next year. You can’t take anything away from what the girls accomplished this season — a conference title for the first time in 48 years, a district championship, regional runners-up — it’s a season a lot of people don’t get to have. We’re very fortunate that we were able to.”
Liberty Union advanced to play Akron Manchester at 10 a.m. Thursday at Akron’s Firestone Stadium. Oak Harbor will play either Wheelersburg or Wellston in the other state semifinal. The state title game is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday at Firestone Stadium.
Shawnee outhit the Lions 6-4 in the game, but had three costly errors on defense.
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” Baugh said. “We found ways to get back in it, we just couldn’t capitalize.”
With two on and two outs in the top of the third inning, Liberty Union’s Eden Wilson singled to make it 2-0. The Lions added two more in the fourth to make it 4-0.
With two outs in the sixth, Shawnee cut the lead to 4-1 on an RBI single by Ava George. The Braves loaded the bases with two outs, but weren’t able to bring plate another run.
“We were definitely looking for the breaks and it just didn’t fall our way,” Baugh said.
Shawnee senior pitcher Aleeseah Trimmer, the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division Player of the Year, threw seven innings, allowing four hits with nine strikeouts and two walks. All four runs allowed were unearned.
The Braves senior class included Trimmer, Maura Simpson and Lily Adams. They won 73 games over four seasons in their careers, making three trips to a district final game, as well as claiming the school’s first league title since 1977.
“They were tremendous leaders for us,” Baugh said. “We talked early on about how the team itself and that’s what I emphasized when we got back to the school is that feeling of the family nature of it. They really exemplified that. With just having the three, that’s all we needed. They really pulled the team together. The team rallied around them. It’s been a dream season for them.
“We set multiple individual records. There’s a lot of names going up on the (records) board. They’re pretty proud of that. You just never want to see it end. You hope to keep it going. We all started to believe a little more each week that we could potentially get to Firestone for state. We will not take away anything we’ve done this year because it was pretty special.”