AKRON — The Lakota West softball team is one victory away from history.
The Firebirds advanced to the Division I state championship game for the second time in program history after a 13-5 win Thursday night over North Canton Hoover in the Division I state semifinals at Firestone Stadium.
"It means the world to me," Lakota West head coach Keith Castner said. "It's not about me; it's about these girls. It's about the Lakota West softball family."
In four of its previous five trips to state (including last season), Lakota West was bounced in the state semifinals. After a tumultuous start Thursday night, it appeared they were destined for another early Akron exit.
Lakota West took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Hoover was lights out in the bottom of the frame. The Vikings sent 10 batters to the plate, taking a 5-1 advantage on six hits, a walk and a pair of throwing errors.
"I know it's fine. We're gonna make outs," Lakota West starting pitcher K.K. Mathis recalled. "Even though they scored five (runs) in the first, we were ready to go, really preaching to ourselves one out at a time."
Mathis, who picked up her 21st win of the season, would recover to throw six shutout innings the rest of the way, permitting just four hits and striking out three.
"K.K. (Mathis) and I were really working hard; we were talking in the dugout every inning," Lakota West catcher Kendall Forren said. "We stayed determined the whole time."
While Mathis and Forren's communication helped tame Hoover's offense over the final six innings, it was the duo's bats that helped Lakota West end the game with 12 unanswered runs.
Mathis, the three-hole hitter, reached base four times, finishing 2-for-3 with a double and four RBIs. Forren, the cleanup hitter, finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs.
"You think we're gonna have a little one-or two-run inning and then we just get another hit. It's insane," Lakota West shortstop Molly Grace said.
Lakota West finished with 13 hits and added eight free passes (five walks, three hit batsmen), becoming the first team to score more than eight runs against Hoover this season.
"The energy was just so amazing from our team and everybody played a role," Grace said.
Grace, who finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, started the rally in the second inning with a two-out two-base hit down the left-field line to make it 5-2.
Timely hitting became key for Lakota West, which tallied a half dozen two-out run-scoring hits. In the fourth, the Firebirds took advantage of a pair of Hoover errors to get back in the game. Outfielder Belle Hummel made it 5-3 with an RBI single, then Mathis tied the game with a two-run single to right. Lakota West took the lead for good when Forren's RBI groundout made it 6-5.
One inning later, Forren, third baseman Haley Hibbard and right fielder Lily Volmer had consecutive RBI singles with two outs to add some key insurance. Mathis' two-run double and Forren's RBI single in the sixth made it 13-5.
"We chipped away," Castner said. "It's a sign of maturity from all of those girls."
The bottom of the Lakota West batting order was able to set the table in the four-run fourth and fifth inning. Second baseman Lena Albright was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth, then singled to start the fifth. Nine-hole hitter Tionna Bright was walked twice, hit by a pitch, had a sacrifice bunt and scored four times.
"Tionna (Bright), she came through for us and she's done that quite a few times this year," Castner said. "Tionna did a nice job of getting people over and that got us back to the top of the lineup."
Lakota West is vying to become Cincinnati's first big-school state softball champion since 1985 and the first since the OHSAA switched to a divisional format in 1990. Greater Cincinnati Division I teams are a combined 0-9 in state title games.
"It's Southwest (Ohio's) turn and I hope we can do it on Saturday," Castner said.
Lakota West will play Holland Springfield – 4-2 winner Thursday over Watkins Memorial – in the Division I state title game at 1 p.m. Saturday.
"It means a lot when you take the next step, but it just tells you how much more you have to do," Mathis said. "We got another game to play."
Lakota West 13, North Canton Hoover 5
WP – Mathis (21-3); LP – Sy. Koosh (15-5)
Leaders: LW – Grace 3-4, 2 2B; Mathis 2-3, 2B, 4 RBIs; Forren 3-5, 4 RBIs; Hibbard 2-4. NCH – Reicosky 2-3, 2B; Kiko 2-4; Shannon 2-3, 2B, 2 RBIs.
Records: LW 27-4, NCH 19-7.
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