AKRON – Two teams that scored a combined 19 runs in their Division VI state softball semifinal wins turned in a pitchers’ duel that both might have expected in the state final June 4.
With first-team all-state honoree Addy Bocock going for Danville against Missouri commit and second-team all-state selection Jenna Mannon of West Jefferson, hits were at a premium and strikeouts kept coming at Firestone Stadium.
At the end of the day, Danville scratched out just what it needed to win its second championship and first in 18 years.
Freshman catcher Morgan Hinkens’ triple off the left-field wall in the top of the ninth inning scored senior first baseman Ruby Bartok with the game’s first run, and Hinkens scored on an infield single from sophomore designated player Liz John in a 2-0 win.
Hinkens’ hit was Danville’s first since the first inning.
West Jefferson (25-6) threatened in the bottom of the ninth. After Bocock recorded back-to-back strikeouts, Payton Kincade tripled into the right-field corner and Danville (25-5) opted to intentionally walk Mannon, who had doubled on the first pitch of the seventh inning.
Bocock then struck out senior outfielder Makayla Messer to end it, her 15th strikeout against four hits and no walks.
The game featured a combined eight hits, four for each team.
Mannon retired 20 of 21 batters she faced, sandwiched around a fourth-inning error, from the first inning into the ninth until she hit Bartok on the elbow with one out.
Mannon struck out 10 and walked two.
West Jefferson’s only hit into the sixth inning was a Hailey McBrayer single in the second.
Kincade’s bloop double in the seventh snapped a string of 12 in a row retired by Bocock, but she induced a soft groundout to end the inning.
In the seventh, Mannon advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt but was easily thrown out trying to steal home during a McBrayer at-bat to force extra innings. Mannon had advanced halfway down the line on an earlier foul ball.
The game was the second state final on the day pitting two central Ohio teams.
Hilliard Bradley defeated Lancaster 7-5 for the Division I championship earlier June 4.
West Jefferson was appearing in its first state final.
This story will be updated.
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ninth-inning rally lifts Danville softball to Division VI state title
Reporting by Dave Purpura, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Dave Purpura, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
