'Big step in the right direction:' Galion beats Colonel Crawford for first postseason win since 2019
GALION - Calli Bauer wasn't about to let storms dampen Galion's postseason opener.
"At 3:15 I was checking the radar and thought — hey, we'll be all right," she said. "It's gonna rain for a little bit, then it's gonna be fine. Then it starts pouring … and then (Colonel Crawford) pulls up and it starts pouring. (But we were) gonna make sure it's playable. The girls took pride in it, they helped a ton. We used like 16 bags of field dry, but we wanted to get the game in today because we're feeling good, we're playing well, and we're just excited.
"I didn't even have the lineup done until I was walking up to the officials meeting."
The Division III sectional semifinal started about a half hour late, but it was well worth the wait for the No. 6 Tigers who won their first tournament game since 2019 run ruling county rival No. 8 Colonel Crawford 12-2 in five innings.
"It's a big step in the right direction, (but) we still have a long way to go," Bauer said. "They have to believe they can win. It's a team that's close, and we know what they can do. We were a little nervous probably because we were out of whack from getting the field ready, but once we got it together we played exceptionally well."
Both teams went down quick in the first inning with the Eagles grounding out three consecutive times and the Tigers popping up for all three outs. Colonel Crawford started the scoring in the second inning when Emma Strausbaugh drove in Hannah Allen, but that lead would only last another inning before the Tigers plated Kaitylyn McKee, Kortnie Ganshorn and Cece Campbell in the third.
Allen's sac fly scored Rylie Hoepf in the fourth to make it a one run game, but that would be the last time it was close as Galion tacked on three more runs in the bottom — McKee RBI single scored Bianca White, Campbell RBI single scored McKee then Ganshorn on an error.
And in the fifth, the Tigers extended the lead on Adalyn Perry's double scoring Destiny Blue. Perry then scored on an errant throw, McKee tripled to score Elliott Freyman and scored herself on a wild pitch, then Madelyn Schieber blooped a ball into right field scoring Ganshorn and Campbell to end the game early.
"We had really good base running today," Bauer said in addition to outhitting the Eagles 13-to-3. "That's something at the beginning of the season we didn't do great, and we worked really hard at making a priority. Seeing that effort show off and show up here was big."
Though they only had four errors on the day, missed plays in the infield and outfield proved decisive for the Eagles.
"It's the same thing that has plagued us all season — making errors, giving up on balls, not catching foul balls that should be caught," coach Ethan Weithman said. "We beat ourselves. With the exception of one game this year, we have beat ourselves every game that we've lost."
Granted, he knew his team would be in for a battle with how well Galion had been playing lately and the talent the Tigers boast in the lineup.
"They got great hitters," Weithman said. "Cece is a phenomenal ball player … she'll go on do special things at college. And Calli's gonna do wonderful things with that program. I really believe that she's going to develop the younger kids and hopefully they get back to being a powerhouse."
At the same time, Bauer knew her Tigers needed to keep their proverbial foot on the pedal because of how potent the Eagles' offense could be if they got into a rhythm.
"We know they have players that can hit the ball," Bauer said. "One through five in their lineup can hit the ball well, but we know defensively that they were going to make a few mistakes — just like we do — so as long as we put the ball in play, we were going to be fine."
McKee, Ganshorn, Campbell, Blue, Perry and Ball each had two hits, Schieber drove in a pair of runs alongside McKee and Campbell. Madison Beck struck out three, walked one and allowed three hits in the circle.
The win advances Galion to Friday's Division III sectional championship against No. 2 Crestview.
"We had doubleheader against them at the beginning of the season and we say that's the day we don't talk about," Bauer laughed. "The first game we had 12 errors and they scored no earned runs, the second game we won 4-1. So we went from losing 12-0 to two hours later beating them 4-1. They have some good people like Sophia Durbin and PJ (Endicott) — they're gonna hit the ball hard — we just gotta make sure we make plays."
Colonel Crawford's postseason comes to an end with potentially some make up games on the horizon to close out the season. Three seniors — Allison Weithman, Hannah Perry, Madison Cobb — will see their careers come to a close, and coach Weithman hopes the returning players understand what they've meant to the program.
"When we have our banquet and I read off their combined stats, I hope the light bulb goes off in some of the younger kids and says — I gotta get to work," he said. "We're only losing three kids, but those three have done really special things over the last four years. They all work outside of the season, they're here all winter long. We had six, seven, eight kids that showed up to every winter practice and those three seniors were here about just about every practice putting in the work, putting in the time.
"And it showed."
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Galion softball beats Colonel Crawford in Div. III sectional semifinal
