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Hemphill’s walks ignite Blue Devils
By Curtis Pulliam
Kent
Abby Hemphill couldn’t stop smiling.
The junior left fielder drew two walks to spark Western Reserve rallies in the Blue Devils’ 5-2 victory over Attica Seneca East on Thursday in a Division IV regional softball semifinal at Kent State University.
Hemphill is Western Reserve’s No. 9 hitter.
“Amazing,” said Hemphill, who also stole a base. “It’s just great to help my team in any way I can.”
The first rally she started was in the bottom of the third inning with the Blue Devils down 2-0. Hemphill worked a walk against Seneca East pitcher Rachel Bauman. After Bauman got the next two hitters, junior Aleah Hughes came through with a RBI single, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Senior catcher Marley Oles followed with a run-scoring double to tie the game at 2, but the Blue Devils weren’t finished.
Sophomore Maddie Krietzburg single home Oles, giving Western Reserve a 3-2 lead. After a single by senior Alexis Lude, sophomore Alexis Miller drove in another run to give the Blue Devils a 4-2 lead.
From there, all the Tigers would get is two hits in the fifth and seventh innings. Hughes shut the door from there.
Hughes pitched all seven innings, giving up five hits, two runs — one unearned — three walks, while striking out nine. For Hughes, the key was staying on the mound for as long as she could.
“Just to get through the game,” Hughes said, who moved to 11-2 on the season. “Usually there’s a lot more (concern) on offense, we gotta hit the ball, and then on defense we have to make sure to just get outs.”
The second run-producing inning came in the fourth, when Hemphill drew her second walk. It was Hughes again driving in Hemphill to increase the lead to three.
“It makes me feel good,” said Hughes, who had three hits and two RBIs. “Just as long as you’re getting good hits you always get that good feeling and the rest of the team was doing good, too.”
Hughes gave all the credit to her Hemphill.
“It was great,” Hughes said. “Getting Abby on base is always a good thing. She’s a good baserunner so it always helped having her already on base with no outs.”
Western Reserve head coach Joe Serensky was very proud with his team’s performance.
“They did a great job,” he said. “We got down early, but a big key for us today was our No. 9 batter, Abby Hemphill. I told them at some point, the bottom of the order is going to help us through this and Abby did a good job of being patient and getting on base for us.”
Seneca East (17-11) was making its first regional tournament appearance. It was short-loved, but the Tigers now have some deep tournament experience.
“I actually was very happy with the way we played against a team that’s that talented and that good,” Seneca East head coach Steve Coppes said. “I just told the girls to play our game and focus.”
The win puts Western Reserve in a regional final for the first time in the program’s history. The Blue Devils will face Cuyahoga Heights at noon on Saturday.
However, Hemphill is getting very impatient when it comes to competing Saturday.
“I can’t wait,” she said.