URBANA — After struggling mightily to score runs against Bellefontaine standout pitcher Tayteum Vigansky during a 10-inning marathon early in the regular season, Benjamin Logan’s softball team faced similar struggles in the early going of their rematch Tuesday in a Division II sectional final.
Vigansky, a junior who limited the Raiders to one run over 10 innings in the regular-season matchup, held Ben Logan scoreless in the first two frames Tuesday as the Chiefs jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
However, the Raiders finally found an answer to Vigansky and the Chiefs with a five-run explosion in the bottom of the third inning and three more runs in the fourth for an 8-4 lead.
Ben Logan starting pitcher Kyah Moore settled in from there and the Raiders went on to finish off an 8-4 victory to advance to the district championship game at 5 p.m. Friday against New Richmond at a site to be announced.
“We were really struggling against her drop balls,” said Ben Logan coach John Stahl of Viganksy’s previous domination of the BL bats. “She has a really good drop ball. After the first couple of innings, I told the girls that we needed to lay off some pitches and try to get ahead in counts so she had to move the ball up in the zone. We were able to get some balls up in the zone and the girls took advantage of it.”
Bellefontaine, which beat the Raiders 2-1 in that earlier contest, started off quickly Tuesday.
The Chiefs struck for two runs in the second inning on a RBI triple by Aubrey Hudson and an RBI groundout by Rianna Fullerton.
Bellefontaine pushed its lead to 4-0 in the top of the third, using a RBI groundout by Rylie Fullerton to plate a run and a Ben Logan wild pitch to allow another run to score.
The momentum suddenly turned in the bottom half of the third inning, though.
The Raiders (21-8) sent 10 batters to the plate, collected four hits and took advantage of two Chieftain errors to jump in front with five runs.
“We had an error here and there and the ball took a couple crazy bounces and we couldn’t get back on track,” said Bellefontaine head coach Katie Buffkin.
Elliott Bailey and Ryelle Gibson each drove in runs and Rhea Harner, Jillian Plikerd and Lynzee Cronkleton and each had hits in the third inning for the Raiders.
Ben Logan’s offense wasn’t done. The Raiders came right back with three more runs in the fourth inning.
Jenn Naragon doubled with one out, Plikerd walked and Brooks Myers then singled, allowing two runs to score to make it a 7-4 Ben Logan lead.
Moore then followed with an RBI double to give the Raiders a four-run cushion.
Bellefontaine’s bats went quiet over the last four innings.
“Our issues on defense got into our heads and we allowed that to carry over to our offense,” said Buffkin. “We are a young team and we have to learn to fight through adversity.”
Moore retired the last 12 batters she faced to finish off her victory.
“I was one pitch away from taking her out,” said Stahl regarding Moore. “She was able to get an out (to get out of the third inning) and then we scored those five runs, and she really calmed down. Once she able to calm down, she did a great job.”
Despite the loss, the Chiefs (11-13) have a lot of positive momentum moving forward. With a young roster that included five freshmen and a sophomore that was a first-time starter, Bellefontaine has a talented nucleus coming back next season.
“We had a great group of girls and this was a tremendous learning experience for us,” said Buffkin. “We are going to miss our amazing seniors who were extremely important to our program, but hopefully we can continue to make progress with the young talent we have.”
For the Raiders, they will attempt to bring home a district title Friday. New Richmond earned its district berth with a 2-0 win over Hamilton Badin on Tuesday.
New Richmond is 17-6 on the season and finished second in the American division of the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference.
“We have to continue to score runs,” said Stahl. “I am sure we will see another good pitcher, so we have to keep hitting the way we have been. If we hit the way we are capable of and play good defense, I am confident in our chances.”
Ben Logan 8,
BELLEFONTAINE 4
Chieftains 022 000 0 — 4 5 3
Raiders 005 300 X — 8 11 1
WP—Moore; LP—Vigansky.