Lady Cougars go long to beat Elida

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

The Van Wert Lady Cougars used the long ball to win Tuesday’s Division II softball sectional semifinals at Jubilee Park.

When the dust settled, the Lady Cougars hit four home runs and defeated the Elida Lady Bulldogs 8-7, to advance to Friday’s sectional championship game against top seeded and state ranked Wapakoneta.

Van Wert’s Laine Spoor, Lauren Moore and Kateri Steinecker opened the bottom of the first inning by hitting consecutive home runs.

“Opening with three home runs is something I had never seen before,” Van Wert head coach Greg Steinecker said. “It was truly exciting, but I knew Elida wasn’t going to go away easy, and we needed to stay focused if we wanted to get a win.”

Elida countered with four doubles in the top of the second inning to grab a 4-3 lead, but the Lady Cougars (9-10) came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. Olivia Kline scored on an error, and Spoor crossed home plate on an RBI single by Steinecker.

The Lady Bulldogs tied the game at five in the top of the third, when Addie Miller stole home with two outs.

Van Wert took a 7-5 lead in the fourth, when Moore clubbed her second home run of the game, scoring Spoor. Moore finished the game with three RBI.

An RBI double by Miller pulled Elida to within one in the fifth inning then the Lady Bulldogs tied the game with run scoring single by Maddie Murphy.

The winning run came in the bottom of the fifth, when Spoor’s RBI single scored Allie Hall.

Elida was able to get the tying run aboard in the sixth and seventh innings, but was unable to capitalize.

Spoor pitched the first 1 2/3 innings for Van Wert, and gave up four runs on seven hits. Steinecker pitched the remaining 5 1/3 innings and was given credit for the win, after allowing three runs on six hits, while striking out four and walking one.
Box score:

Elida        041 020 0 – 7
Van Wert 320 210 x – 8