KINGS MILLS — Carlisle hit three homers through nine batters Thursday and went on to defeat Blanchester 17-0 in five innings in a Division III Southwest District championship game at Kings High School.
Nine batters in to the game, the Indians led 6-0 and they went on to batter a trio of BHS pitchers for 16 hits and a run-rule victory.
Lydia Peters and Madison Creager had the only hits for Blanchester.
Blanchester’s season ends at 12-11. Carlisle moves on to the regional tournament with a 24-1 record.
The Ladycats won just nine games total during the 2021 and 2019 seasons. The 2020 season was not contested because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“At the beginning of the year, when I tell people we have eight starters coming back, they say that’s pretty good but it’s eight starters from a team that won only four games,” said BHS manager Jamey Grogg. “We made a lot of changes in the preseason and the girls bought in. They committed to it from Day 1. They worked. They wanted something different than what they’d had in the past.”
Now, Blanchester will seek a step forward for the 2023 season, much like the eight-game improvement from a year ago.
“I told the underclassmen you need to think about this (game) outcome,” said Grogg. “It has to be the fuel that pushes you to work from now until next season. We see the gap. Carlisle’s not going anywhere. They’re pretty young, too. This is the kind of team we have to get through to get where we want to go.
“With the underclassmen, they saw the commitment that it takes to get to that level. I would hope they would come back even more hungry, where they want to be competing for district championships and getting to the regionals.”
The game was the final at BHS for five seniors — Emma Case, Madison Creager, Zoie Stanforth, Rianna Mueller and Maggie Caldwell.
“Those five girls, four of them have been on varsity since they were freshmen (Madison, Zoie, Maggie, Rianna).” said Grogg. “Always have to ask is the program better when you leave it than it was when you came here. Yes. They’ve done a lot. They’re a special group to me. They’re a group that means a lot to me.”
SUMMARY
May 19, 2022
Div III District Championship
@Kings High School
Carlisle 17, Blanchester 0
B^0^0^0^0^0^^0
C^5^3^5^4^x^^17
(0) BLANCHESTER (ab-r-h-rbi) Mueller 2-0-0-0 Q. Dawley 2-0-0-0 Peters 2-0-1-0 Potts 0-0-0-0 Case 1-0-0-0 B. Dawley 2-0-0-0 Davenport 2-0-0-0 Creager 2-0-1-0 Stanforth 2-0-0-0 Caldwell 2-0-0-0 Blankenbeckler 0-0-0-0
(17) CARLISLE (ab-r-h-rbi) Miller 3-2-1-0 Brown 3-1-1-1 Lawson 4-3-3-3 Morris 3-3-3-4 Goins 3-1-2-1 Eldridge 2-1-1-0 Hudson 1-0-1-0 Chatterton 3-1-1-3 Adkins 3-2-2-0 Allen 2-3-2-1
2B: C-Morris, Goins
3B: C-Lawson
HR: C-Morris, Chatterton, Allen
SB: C-Lawson
HBP: B-Potts; C-Allen
SAC: C-Brown
PITCHING^ip^h^r^er^bb^so
Blanchester
Mueller (L)^2.1^12^10^10^1^2
Stanforth^1^3^2^0^0^0
B. Dawley^0.2^2^5^5^2^0
Carlisle
Brown (W)^5^2^0^0^1^6
