XENIA — Visiting Tecumseh scored seven runs in the second inning of Wednesday’s May 9 Division I sectional semifinal softball tournament game with No. 8 seed Xenia, and hung on for a 9-5 win on Xenia’s home field.
Using a mixture of small ball and plenty of hard contact, the visiting Arrows came up with three infield hits, two bunts, two doubles and had an eventual scorer reach on a strikeout passed ball, as part of a seven-run second.
“That’s usually a typical game for how we play,” Tecumseh coach Christi Leggett said. “Our starting pitcher, Ashley Fite, is the rock of this team. When she’s on, we’re on. And we played solid defensively tonight as well. As long as we’re able to do that in a game, we’re able to produce these results.”
While Fite scattered six Buccaneer hits in the complete-game win, Tecumseh had to work to stay out in front of Xenia.
Xenia starting pitcher Caity Moody started the Buccaneers rally try in the third, and probably dented somebody’s hood along the way, in the third inning. Moody smacked a line drive home run that cleared the left-field fence and bounced off a car in the Xenia High School parking lot several feet beyond the softball diamond before hitting the ground. Bailey Oliver and Sydney Smith also scored on the homer.
The Arrows tacked on a couple insurance runs, scores by Fite and Abby O’Bryant, in the fourth inning to put Tecumseh out in front, 9-3.
Xenia’s Morgan Huffman then singled into left center in the bottom of the fifth to score Oliver and Anne Kensinger, who was pinch running for Moody, to make the score 9-5.
Tecumseh’s record is now 13-7 this season, with nearly a third of the Arrows wins coming against Xenia. The Arrows have now beaten Xenia four times this season, and all four games were played on the Buccaneer diamond.
Xenia coach John Miner said that, due to the weather conditions throughout the season as well as some team injuries for the Buccaneer bunch, which led to Miner fielding a team with several junior varsity players in the lineup, Wednesday’s game was really the first time the Arrows had seen his team at full strength.
“We played hard all season long, and fought hard. We finished strong with a couple late wins to get a share of that (Greater Western Ohio Conference, American South) title, and won last week in our tournament opener against Beavercreek,” Miner said. “We have a great group of girls on this team. … I’m just ecstatic about the season we had and where we got. They have nothing to frown about. They’re walking off this field as GWOC Champions.”
According to the GWOC website, Xenia has three seniors who played out their high school softball careers with Wednesday’s loss: Kensinger, Madyson Larson and Alexis Adams. Xenia shared the GWOC South crown with Fairborn this season with a 10-4 record within the American Conference. The Buccaneers finished the season 13-12 overall.
Tecumseh now advances to the sectional finals of the Dayton 1 bracket. They will take on the winner between No. 4-seed Miamisburg and top-seeded Lebanon at 5 p.m. Monday, May 14 at Fairmont High School in Kettering.
