Trouble with the curve: Sheridan's offense never found traction in the district finals.

ATHENS — Sheridan had more lives than a truck load of alley cats for 20 outs on Friday against Circleville Logan Elm.

Getting the 21st unscathed proved elusive.

Down to their final strike with runners on second and third, the Braves got a two-out single from Lucy Caplinger that sent the tying and go-ahead runs home off Sheridan ace Cora Hall.

Sadie Binkley got the final three outs to cap a three-hitter and secure a 2-1 win in a Division II district final at Ohio University, handing top-seeded Sheridan its first loss in 20 games. It sent the Braves (18-9) to the Pickerington regional.

Here are takeaways from the game:

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'Spinning Sadie' dazzles

Binkley outlasted the determined Hall, who worked out of trouble in multiple innings to take a shutout into the seventh.

Binkley's arsenal of off-speed pitches, particularly her curveball, had many Generals reaching for pitches off the plate. She finished with six strikeouts — one less than Hall — and walked three. But hard contact was rare.

The Generals (23-4) managed just one hit after Hailey Mueller’s two-out RBI double in the first inning that got Sheridan on the board.

“You have got to take your hat off to Sadie — she pitched a whale of a ballgame,” Sheridan coach Mark Paxton said. “She kept us off-balanced, kept the ball away. She had a lot of spin on all of her pitches. Hats off to Sadie, for sure. And hats off to them for coming up with the big hit. We had them down to their last strike.”

Binkley said she took to the ever-popular GameChanger app, which many teams use to track game statistics and live stream games, to form her own scouting report from game videos. She learned quickly that Hall's hitting prowess matched her pitching, and that the plan was to attack other hitters in the lineup.

That was put to the test when Hall came up with runners on first and second with no outs in the first. She struck her out swinging — the first of three times she struck Hall out.

"Early in the game my riseball was really on," Binkley said. "Then all of a sudden I threw a few curveballs and they weren't touching it. I was like, 'here we go.'"

Sheridan never solved the riddle.

"Going in, if I have a good plan, it makes all the difference in the world," Binkley said. "My plan is what won that today. You can go out and make great pitches, but if you leave it in spots where they can hit it, there is no point. You have to have the plan."

Missed chances haunt

Sheridan had a chance to add on in the first on Mueller's double off the wall. Paxton, coaching third base, tried to give Brooke Cadigan the stop sign rounding third, but she didn't see him until it was too late and was thrown out easily.

Sheridan had a runner on second with two outs in the fourth after courtesy runner Mylie Forgrave stole second base, but Binkley induced a groundout ended the threat.

In the fifth, Avery Davis singled up the middle to lead off the inning — her third hit in two district games. She then came around to third one batter later when Binkley's throw back to first, after she caught a popped up bunt, went down the right field line.

Senior Avery Mueller came up with a chance to add to the lead. But a squeeze attempt with two strikes failed, and the next batter was called for batter interference to end the inning.

Paxton, with a long history of utilizing bunting and stealing tactics, held his ground by keeping the squeeze on with two strikes. Mueller was one of the team's top hitters all season.

"We were running some games with them there to try and get them to charge a little too hard, and possibly hit one by them," Paxton said. "We were taking it on and off. It's one of those situations where you're going to second-guess yourself on any situation.

"I can look back on a couple of things in that game," Paxton said. "I'm always going to second-guess myself. That's just the nature of the beast."

Junior shortstop Payton Powell said the team fully expected a difficult game, even as the Generals were the higher seed and riding a fierce wave of momentum.

"We knew they were good," Powell said. "They had beat John Glenn who beat us (twice)."

They were outplayed by a Braves team that had eight hits and 12 base runners off one of the state’s top pitchers in Hall.

It took a handful of stellar defensive plays — two from Powell alone — and some timely Hall strikeouts to keep the lead as long as it did. Logan Elm stranded runners in six straight innings after going down in order in the first.

Sheridan was still one pitch away from pulling it out.

“We had a good game, especially on defense,” Powell said. “It’s a game. People are going to make plays and big moments. That's how it goes."

Sheridan eyeing 2025

Hall, Powell and catcher Hailey Mueller are among a talented returning contingent that will no doubt be hungry to avenge its toughest loss of the season.

Avery Mueller, Davis and Addison Grosse were part of teams that won 88 games in four years, which included two regional berths.

Paxton said they will be dearly missed.

"Those seniors left their mark, there is no doubt," Paxton said. "We are going to lose some very talented seniors, but we have a lot of the puzzle coming back. We will get back to work in the fall and see how that puzzle starts fitting together."

sblackbu@gannett.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Logan Elm pitcher stymies Sheridan softball in district finals