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Lucas rallies in seventh to stun Mathews
By MIKE McLAIN
KENT
The moment was like a blur to Liz Yirga, who had to let it soak in before realizing it actually happened.
Unfortunately, for the Mathews Mustangs, Yirga’s game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning was all too real. The hit scored Frankie Depue with the deciding run for the Lucas Cubs in their 5-4 win in a Division IV regional softball final Saturday at the Diamond at Dix.
In winning the first regional championship in school history, the Cubs rallied from deficits of 3-0 in the fifth inning and 4-3 in the seventh. It was a cruel ending to a great season for the Mustangs, who finished 21-8.
“You congratulate them on a great year,” Mustangs coach Jim Nicula said of his post-game remarks to the players. “This team had an awesome year. They won another league title. They had an opportunity to go to state. You can’t ask anything more than that. They just came up short.”
The Mustangs were on the verge of the second trip to the state tournament in school history entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Starting pitcher Nicole Watts struck out Taylor Carper leading off the inning, but speedy lead-off hitter Alex Depue reached on an infield single and then stole second.
Frankie Depue looped a single into shallow right field, but Alex Depue could only advance to third because she had to wait to see it the ball would drop safely. Watts struck out Morgan Spitler and had two strikes on Anna Westfield, who then singled to left to score Alex Depue and move Frankie Depue to third.
Yirga swung at Watts’ first pitch and looped a single to left field. Frankie Depue easily scored the winning run.
“I don’t remember anything about that at-bat,” Yirga said. “I was just trying to remain calm and hit something. I needed to be clutch and help my team, and I did.”
The Mustangs weren’t often fooled by Westfield, who allowed 10 hits to earn the win. Bailey Hall tripled with one out in the third for Mathews, scoring when Yirga took her foot of first base on a ground ball by Paige Sponsler. Mackenzie Graham struck out, but Alivia Oulten singled home Sponsler to give Mathews a 2-0 lead.
Noelle Migliozzi doubled leading off the fourth and scored on a double by Emily Derkach to increase the Mustangs’ lead to 3-0.
The Cubs (22-6) scored three unearned runs in the fifth, including two on a single by Frankie Depue. Courtney Harris reached on a fielding error to start the uprising. Westfield singled, Mackenzie Wilburn struck out and Taylor Carper walked before a run-producing single by Alex Depue. Westfield and Carper scored on Frankie Depue’s single.
“You factor in a walk with an error and a hit, and the results aren’t good,” Nicula said. “We played strong defense, but we had enough little cracks that allowed them to climb back in it.”
Mathews regained the lead in the sixth when Derkach singled and moved to third on a two-base fielding error with two outs. Maitlyn Simon followed with an RBI double.
Watts yielded seven hits, including four in the seventh. She struck out six and walked two.
“Tomorrow we go back to work,” Nicula said. “I’m coaching 14s and my assistants are coaching pee-wees. We challenge the underclassmen: if this feeling sucks and you don’t like it, then do something about it because tradition doesn’t graduate. We’re getting ready to come back here next year, because that’s where they want to be.”