FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. – After surviving an extra inning affair in the opening round, the Lincoln softball team claimed the Wayne County Tournament title with a 2-0 win over Hagerstown Saturday afternoon.
“This was just a fantastic day for our program,” Lincoln Head Coach Scott Griffin said. “This is monumental for our group. It was a great effort on everyone’s part and I couldn’t be happier.”
The Golden Eagles advanced to the finale with a 6-5 victory over Northeastern in nine innings, while Hagerstown punched its ticket to the championship game with a 3-1 win over Centerville.
“It’s still early in the season and we can come back from all of this,” Hagerstown Head Coach Kelsi Stotler said. “We can learn from it.”
Lincoln scored a run in the first against the Tigers and added another in the third.
“We had a game plan coming in,” Griffin said. “They executed and were patient. Everything we could have hoped for, we got out of this game.”
Brooke Crouch knocked in both runs for the Golden Eagles.
In the first, Crouch hit an infield pop up with two outs that turned into a single, which scored Kerrigan Neff.
Two frames later, Crouch hit a ball that was caught in shallow centerfield by Hagerstown shortstop Gabby Willis, which resulted in a sacrifice fly as Laynie Russell scored.
Neff led Lincoln with two hits with Russell and Emmie Pugh adding one apiece.
The view from the other dugout was a little more difficult.
“We just couldn’t hit the ball,” Stotler said.
Taylor Kelley led the Tigers with two hits, while Morgan Masters and Ashley Strunk had one each.
“Brytni (Dale) did a great job of pitching,” Stotler said. “What killed us was the errors.”
Dale, who was the winning pitcher for the Tigers in the opener, went the distance in the championship contest giving up five hits with five strikeouts.
For the Golden Eagles, Russell started on the mound and worked five innings to get her second win of the day. She surrendered four hits and fanned five.
“I knew we had momentum going our way,” Russell said of making the start in the title game.
The two runs early in the game were important.
“It helps me relax a little bit,” Russell said of the advantage.
Hannah Hall earned a save with two scoreless frames to close out contest.
Both teams return to action against county foes in Tri-Eastern Conference affairs.
The Golden Eagles (4-3) entertain Winchester on Monday in Dublin, while the Tigers (5-4) get a visit from Centerville on Wednesday.