Softball: Beavercreek dispatches Piqua in six innings; Fairborn, Carroll eliminated

BEAVERCREEK — Beavercreek keeps having to wait for another day to determine if it can clinch a GWOC championship. In the meantime, its bats wasted no time on Wednesday getting its Division I postseason tournament run off to a good start.

An 11-1 home win against No. 11 Piqua saw Beavercreek score eight times in the first two innings before getting just enough in the late innings to end the game in six innings.

Beavercreek, the No.3-seed in the sectional, loaded the bases with one out in the first before Selena Knight got her big day underway. She singled home a pair of runs with a ball into center field. Brylee Greene followed with a double to make it 4-0.

Five straight singles in the second inning plated three more runs, with Knight capping the rally on a ground ball hit into left field.

Haley Ferguson struck out five of the first seven Piqua batters she faced in the circle. The Indians were able to get a short rally going in the third, plating their only run of the game on a one-out double before Ferguson induced a grounder and got another strikeout to strand two runners in scoring position.

She later helped her own cause with a two RBI double smashed into deep center field, but was thrown out after getting caught in a rundown between second and third.

Greene finished off the win in the sixth after Alainey Townsley beat out a ground ball with two outs, advancing to second on a wild pitch, and scoring uncontested after Greene lined a ball into center field.

Knight went 3-for-4 with three RBI, and Jayden O’Neal also went 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot to continue setting the tone for the Beavercreek offense.

Ferguson struck out 13 in her six innings, allowing five hits and three walks, to earn her 18th win of the season. She is two strikeouts away from reaching 200 in a season for the third time in her career.

Beavercreek (18-4) will finally get to makeup its final league game of the regular season when it hosts Fairmont on Thursday. It has twice been postponed, including on Tuesday due to the expected weather forecast. A Beavercreek win will clinch a share of the league title, which would be the first for the Beavers since 2008. Centerville ended its season at 12-2 and Beavercreek is currently 11-2.

Advancing to the district semifinals, Beavercreek will host Springboro on Monday. The Panthers defeated Butler 20-7 on Wednesday.

Fairborn season comes to an end

Fairborn allowed multiple run to score in each of the first three innings and couldn’t catch up in an 8-1 road defeat to end its season.

The Skyhawks only run came on a third inning double by Kyleigh Cook as part of her two-hit game. Hailey Webb also went 2-for-3 for Fairborn, and in the circle she struck out nine Centerville hitters in six innings of work.

Fairborn was retired in order three times and couldn’t follow up on a hit with zero or one out in three other innings.

Centerville’s first three batters reached to make it a 2-0 game early, and added two more in the second on a two-run home run.

Webb settled down and retired nine of 10 in the middle innings before the Elks added an insurance run in the sixth.

Centerville, seeded No. 2 in the sectional, is ranked in the top-10 of this week’s state coaches poll.

Carroll blanked in tournament

Tippecanoe scored in four of its five innings at the plate and shut out Carroll 11-0 and get a road win in the D-II tournament.

Carroll committed seven errors and only one of Tippecanoe’s runs were earned.

Emma Sexton went 3-for-3 to have the majority of Carroll’s five hits.

Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.