PIKETON — 259 pitches, 75 batters, and one long, gone home run.
It wasn’t clear until the bottom of the 10th inning who would emerge champions of the Division III, Unioto #2 district, but Portsmouth West sophomore Emily Moore made sure it would be her Lady Senators.
On the 259th and final pitch of the game, Moore sent a no-doubt home run to right center field — giving West a 1-0 walk-off win in 10 innings over Fairfield for the program’s first district title since 2015.
“My at-bat before that, I kind of got underneath of it,” Moore said. “They told me I knew to throw my hands more and yeah, I could tell off the bat it was going to go.”
Moore wasn’t the only West player or coach who knew at the sound of the ball off Moore’s bat was a game-ender. West coach Dani Coleman said she felt the same.
“As soon as we heard the crack of the bat we knew it was gone,” Coleman said. “We feel like we have a very good hitting lineup, everyone in front of her and behind her. She’s (Moore) got that mentality that no one’s going to hold her back.”
Rounding home and crossing the plate for the game’s only run — in the bottom of the 10th inning — Moore said she was overcome with emotion.
“It was everything,” Moore said. “I almost cried.”
To put West in the position for a walk-off win deep into extra innings, junior pitcher Sydney McDermott, her battery-mate in senior catch Abie Boland, and the entirety of the Lady Senators’ defense needed to play about as well as a unit can play.
They did just that.
McDermott retired 14 of the 36 batters she faced via strikeout and carried a no-hitter through a complete nine innings.
Fairfield got a lead-off single by Faith Miller to start the 10th frame which broke-up McDermott’s no-hit bid, but more importantly, the shutout remained intact.
In each of Fairfield’s 10 trips to the plate, McDermott and the West defense kept the Lady Lions off the scoreboard.
“We knew playing Fairfield it was going to be a good game. Their lefty pitcher pitched a really good game. For it to be down to the wire like that, we knew we’d have to perfect defensively,” Coleman said. “Sydney and Abie were excellent today and our defense was stellar. Everyone was really focused on what their jobs were and doing what it took to get this win.”
The battery-mates discussed what it was like battling through the conditions of the heat, a scoreless tie deep into extras, and ultimately coming out on top.
“It’s fun, so rewarding to when you fight for that long,” McDermott said. “For it to pay off in the end, it’s very rewarding.”
“Incredible. I didn’t want this to be my last game and I knew it wasn’t going to be,” Boland said. “We all played our hardest and I’m glad we came out on top.”
McDermott explained her approach in the circle that helped lead to the 10-inning shutout victory — and also her defense making the plays that were necessary in order to win.
“I was just thinking one pitch at a time, that’s our mentality,” McDermott said. “If it comes to us we know where we’re going with it — everyone was all out in the field today.”
Boland is the lone senior on the Portsmouth West unit that helped win the program’s first district crown in seven years.
“Amazing — I knew we could always do it, glad we got the chance to show it,” Boland said.
Portsmouth West advances to the Division III, Region 11 semifinals where they’ll face the winners of the Unioto #1 district — the Crooksville Ceramics. Crooksville defeated Portsmouth 12-0 in five innings in Saturday’s district final.
First pitch between West and Crooksville is set for 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25 at Unioto High School.
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BOX SCORE
Fairfield 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 1 2
Portsmouth West 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 8 2
Fairfield hitting
Halle Hamilton 0-3, BB
Jobey Hattan 0-3, BB
Caitlyn Quickle 0-3, BB
Faith Miller 1-4
West hitting
Emily Moore 2-5, R, RBI, HR
Kate Rollins 1-4
Kaylor Pickelsimer 0-3, BB
Abie Boland 1-3
Macie Bradford 3-3, BB
Zoey Pollard 1-3
Pitching
Caitlyn Quickle (F) 9.1IP, 8H, 1ER, 2BB, 8K (L)
Sydney McDermott (W) 10IP, 1H, 0ER, 3BB, 14K (W)
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