XENIA — Visiting Beavercreek walloped 19 hits, and needed every one of them, in fending off Greeneview for an 11-10 softball simulation win, Monday April 13 at simulated Grady’s Field on the Athletes In Action Simulated Sports Complex.
It seemed as if Greeneview (1-1) was be able battle back with each time Beavercreek would take the lead.
The Beavers (1-1) roared out to a 4-0 lead in the very first inning, when Shelby Metzger hit a three-run home run, scoring teammates Mariah Crawford and Paige Weekley, and Maddie Neibert scored from second on a Caitlynn Newlen double.
The Rams responded by taking advantage of five walks issued by Beavercreek pitching in the third. Along with hits by Catie Caraway and Alexa Simpson, together with bases loaded RBI walks by Bryce Ratliff and Makenna Reno, Greeneview closed the game to 4-3 in ‘Creek’s favor.
A Metzger single scored Crawford from second in the fourth inning, to put the Beavers up by a pair of runs, 5-3, but the Rams battled back yet again.
This time, Greeneview’s Baylee Anderson singled to left to score Caraway and Kassidy Adkins to tie the contest all up at 5-all.
So what does Beavercreek do? They rough up Greeneview’s pitcher with six runs on four hits and three walks to charge back out in front, 11-5 in the sixth. That’s what they do!
Down by six runs late in the contest, a lot of simulated teams would just give up and crawl back into the sportswriter’s game box. But not the Greeneview Rams, nosirree.
Greeneview’s Simpson blasted a line-drive home run with two outs to score herself and teammates Caraway and Ratliff in the eighth inning to pull within three runs of Beavercreek’s lead.
Caraway then singled to score two Caitlins — Caitlin Sweat and Kaitlinn Hinkle — and drew the Rams within one of the Beavers at 11-10. Caraway would record the final Greeneview hit, however, as ‘Creek’s Crawford struck out the next two Rams batters to end the game.
Six Beavercreek batters collected multiple hits. Crawford led the way by going 4-for-4 at the plate with a double, walk and two runs scored. Metzger went a solid 3-for-5 with four RBI, her home run and a walk, Weekley and Newlen also had three hits apiece, while Neibert and Alyssa Burger had two hits each.
Caraway was a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs scored for Greeneview, Simpson went 3-for-5 with her four-bagger and four runs knocked in, and Sweat also collected three hits in the loss. Ellie Harlow was the other Greeneview batter hitting multiple hits, with two.
ON DECK: This week marks the second week of softball games for this simulated season. It’s the girls’ turn to have some fun. Next up is Cedarville (0-1) against Xenia (1-0); Fairborn (0-1) takes on Yellow Springs (1-0); and Carroll (0-1) will visit Legacy Christian (0-0). Bellbrook (1-0) is off with a bye week.
