OHSAA softball tournament: Carsyn Cassady silences Lancaster’s bats in regional final win

SUNBURY — Watkins Memorial senior pitcher Carsyn Cassady watched the Lancaster softball team bang 14 hits in their regional semifinal win over Teays Valley on Wednesday.

Cassady was impressed with how well Lancaster hit the ball, but at that moment, she also texted her catcher Jordyn Wycuff with a game plan to attack the Lady Gales differently.

Cassady executed her plan to perfection as she fired a four-hit shutout in the Warriors’ 5-0 victory during Friday’s Division I regional final at Big Walnut High School.

The Warriors led off the game with back-to-back singles, and then Courtney Dobbs hit a three-run home run of Lancaster starter Reese Poston to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead and all the momentum they would need.

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The Warriors (30-1) would score single runs in the second and third innings, but the story of the game was Cassady, who was in total command from start to finish. She ended up with only five strikeouts, but the Gales (28-4) only had two balls reach the outfield, and on both right fielder Grace Whitman stole hits when she made a diving catch in the sixth inning and a running catch at the wall in the seventh.

“I saw the Teays Valley game, and I texted my catcher and told her everything needs to be different against Lancaster,” Cassady said. “There should never be a sequence where they can guess the next pitch. Everything needs to be changing. My goal was to make them pop everything up. I also texted our group that if we scored three runs, we would win.

“Once we took the lead in the first inning, that set the tone for us and them. Any pressure our team had, it was all gone, and at that point, it was all put on them because they had to chase us.”

Lancaster coach Allie Kinniard said falling behind early was not an ideal situation for the Gales, especially with Cassady in the circle.

“The (home run) was definitely a momentum shift in their direction and we just couldn’t get anything going,” Lancaster coach Allie Kinniard said. “They are a great team, and we knew we had to play our best game to beat them and we didn’t get it down. The spin and the placement that (Cassady) can put the ball makes it hard to get your bat on. We worked a lot on trying to keep the ball down and putting the ball in play on the ground but sometimes the spin and the movement just looks different.”

Watkins Memorial coach Mike Jellison said getting runs early was the perfect script for the Warriors.

“We wanted to come out and start fast and use our energy to our advantage and put pressure on them and that’s what we were able to do in the first inning,” Jellison said. “Carsyn doesn’t give up many runs, so to get an early lead was huge and set the tone for the rest of the game.”

Lancaster junior Ashlin Mowery came on in relief of Poston in the first inning and was solid the rest of the way as she finished with 14 strikeouts. Lilly Stoughton finished with two infield hits to lead the Gales. Jenna Spurling and Hailey Rings both had infield hits.

It was Lancaster’s second regional appearance in the past three years. Two years ago, they also lost to the Warriors, who will be making their fourth consecutive trip to the final four.

Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @twil2323.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: WM's Carsyn Cassady silences Lancaster’s bats in regional final win