‘This one’s going to hurt for awhile:’ Rochester commits 7 errors in regional loss to Western Boone

The Rochester Zebras Softball team picture after their 3rd straight sectional title. Unfortunately their season ended Tuesday night at home with an extra inning loss to Western Boone at Fansler Field

J. Field’s 2 clutch hits produce 3 RBIs; Wilson adds inside-the-park homer

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

It was warm and dry at Fansler Field Tuesday for the Class 2A softball regional between Western Boone and Rochester.

Every time a player ran a step or every time the ball took a hop on the ground, it kicked up a cloud of dust.

Each cloud of dust might well have a story attached to it.

For Rochester, it might have been the comeback to end all comebacks. But like the cloud of dust, the comeback story went poof and disappeared. A story about an agonizing loss might linger all summer.

In the end, Western Boone, who was down to their final strike in the seventh inning, capitalized on three of Rochester’s seven errors to score two runs in the top of the eighth and win 8-6 in an extra-inning thriller.

Ali Field led off the bottom of the eighth by reaching on an error, but shortstop Ally Lewis made a nice running catch toward the foul line on Gabby Medina’s pop, and reliever Mickey Burns finished the game by getting Kyleigh Little on a pop to first and Aubrey Miller on a pop back to the pitcher to set off a celebration in the middle of the diamond.

Burns pitched the final 3 ⅓ innings after Ally Lewis went the first 4 ⅔ innings.

Prior to Tuesday, Rochester had been undefeated at home and undefeated against Class 2A competition. But it was Western Boone that improved to 20-7 and earned a semistate semifinal meeting with Central Noble at 11 a.m. Saturday at Kokomo.

Rochester finished 22-4. They lost in the regional round for the third straight year.

“This one’s going to hurt for awhile,” Rochester coach Jim Coleman said. “We were focused. We put ourselves in a situation to win. We had the lead 4-3 with two outs in the seventh inning. We were one out away from closing the door. The expectations and the focus to get not only into regional this year but to get it … This one is going to sting for awhile.”

The teams combined for 11 errors. Of the 14 combined runs, nine were unearned.

Coleman noted how hard the field was and that once a ball hops twice it has a “mind of its own.”

Western Boone coach Mike Vanderpool calls defense his team’s “pride and joy.”

“We’ve never played on this, but I could tell the ball was taking bounces,” Vanderpool said. “If you’ve seen my shortstop field the ball and stuff, it did bounce different. It was really bouncy, I thought.”

Rochester led 4-3 with a runner at first and two outs in the top of the seventh, but Rochester pitcher Bria Rensberger hit Addi Lee with a pitch.

Rensberger got ahead of Ally Lewis 1-2 in the count. She was one strike away, but Lewis hit a grounder to first that was missed for an error. Morganne Grant scored from second, and when the throw home was late, Lee reached third and Lewis went to second.

Rochester coach Jim Coleman elected to walk Burns intentionally to load the bases.

Molly Monks hit a grounder to second base. The second baseman ranged to her right to field it but then booted it, and Lee and a hustling Lewis scored to give Western Boone a 6-4 lead.

“If you know our team… we don’t quit,” Vanderpool said. “That’s what we are known for in our conference and where we come from. We don’t ever give up. We’re going to fight and battle.”

Rochester responded.

Aubrey Miller reached on an infield single on a chopper to short, and Jordyn Hackworth followed with a walk. Adalyn Gonzalez’s sacrifice bunt back to the circle moved runners to second and third.

Vanderpool had walked Aubrey Wilson intentionally back in the fifth inning; this time he elected to pitch to her. Wilson grounded to shortstop, scoring Miller and moving Hackworth to third.

Rochester was within 6-5, but now they were down to their final out.

Jadyn Field fell behind 0-2 in the count. Rochester was down to their final strike. And then she drilled a liner to right for an RBI single.

An off-the-rails game was tied, and extra innings were on the way.

Rensberger got Caydence Paris on a comebacker, reaching to nab a high hopper and throwing her out at first to start the eighth. Kenzlei Mathews walked, but Kensley Blankenship struck out. 

Ashlyn Foster hit a soft grounder to third base, but the throw was wild for an error with Mathews moving to second.

Lee hit a grounder to the right side, but it was booted for an error at second base, and Mathews scored all the way from second, and Foster advanced to third.

Lewis then hit another grounder to a similar part of the diamond, but again the second baseman booted it, and Foster scored.

That was the Lady Zs’ seventh error of the game. Rochester had committed seven errors in their previous seven games combined.

Regular second baseman Mylee Heinzmann did not play due to a suspension after an excessive force call pursuant to NFHS Rule 2-35 after a rough slide into third base in the sectional final. With Heinzmann out, the backup second baseman committed four errors.

“Where we’ve been really solid the last 10 games, our defense let us down,” Coleman said. “They were big errors and allowed them to fight back and eventually take the lead on us. I don't know how many of those errors were with two outs, but I would say at least half of them. Defensively, those errors were a big reason that we gave up as many runs as we did.”

Western Boone took a 2-0 lead in the second. The first run scored on a dropped throw at first base on a sacrifice bunt that scored Raina Lutz all the way from second. A second run scored on a passed ball.

Western Boone made it 3-0 in the fourth on a double by Lutz and Paris’ RBI single to right-center.

Rochester trimmed the lead to 3-1 in the bottom half on Wilson’s inside-the-park homer, breaking up starter Lewis’ no-hitter and shutout with one swing. After cranking a fly to deep center, she initially slid head first into third base, but when the shortstop held on to the relay throw from the center fielder, she quickly got up and hustled home, just beating the tag at the plate by an eyelash.

Rensberger pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fifth. 

In the bottom half, Gabby Medina led off with a double to deep left that just landed over left fielder Ashlyn Foster’s head.

Then came Kyleigh Little’s epic at-bat, a 10-pitch odyssey that included two foul bunts to start with and four more foul balls before she lined an RBI single to center to score Medina and cut the lead to 3-2.

“I thought we finally started making some solid contact,” Coleman said. “So when they made that switch, it definitely worked in their favor. We continued to battle. I go back to Kyleigh Little’s at-bat. A freshman, I’m not sure she even got an at-bat in the sectional. She fouled off four or five pitches, worked the count full and ended up getting a base hit, a hard hit, to center. For a freshman to be able to stand in the box with that sort of pressure in that type of a game, I mean, huge credit goes out to her. And Gonzo, you go back to the sectional final game as well, two freshmen in big spots being able to convert, it speaks volumes of those two and what they’ve been able to do with travel ball and being ready to come in and be big players for us throughout the season and the postseason.”

Miller’s sacrifice bunt moved Little to second. Hackworth flew out to left. Gonzalez’s grounder to short was booted for an error, moving Little to third.

Vanderpool handed out an intentional walk to Wilson to load the bases. Jadyn Field foiled the strategy, grounding a two-run single to right-center to give Rochester their first lead at 4-3.

“Wilson, being the team player she is, she looked right at Jay after that and was like, ‘It’s your turn,’” Coleman said. “And Jay came through once again. So that junior class is special. It’s one of those that they feed off each other. They stay engaged. They’re fun to coach.”

Burns led off the sixth with a double, and she advanced to third on a grounder to short. Rensberger then fanned Lutz, a .405 hitter, and got Paris to foul out to Jadyn Field at first.

Rochester was three outs away from their first regional title since 2012.

Vanderpool said he saw a brief clip of Rensberger pitching prior to Tuesday, but he said it did not prepare him for what he saw in person.

“She’s a great pitcher,” Vanderpool said. “She hits her locations and works the ball, so I think it was a great win for us facing that great of a pitcher.”

Western Boone 8, Rochester 6 (8 innings)

Western Boone 020 100 32 – 8 5 4

Rochester 000 130 20 – 6 7 7

WP – Mickey Burns (3 ⅓ IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K)

LP – Bria Rensberger (8 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 1 HBP, 9 K)

2B – Raina Lutz (WEBO), Mickey Burns (WEBO), Gabby Medina (RHS)

HR – Aubrey Wilson (RHS)