“The girls are just resilient,” said Cougars coach Sarah Schalnat. “They’re great to be around. They have good attitudes. They’re ready to play. They were down, but they didn’t get down on themselves. They believe in themselves.”
Kenton Ridge sophomore Brenna Fyffe hit a grand slam and freshman Jayden Davis went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs as the Cougars improved to 26-4.
Cougars senior Natalee Fyffe had two hits and two RBIs, senior Dakotah Timmons had a double, sophomore Kendall Massie went 3-for-4, sophomore Cara Cammon went 2-for-4 and freshman Chloe Glass went 3-for-5 for Kenton Ridge.
“Hitting is contagious,” Schalnat said. “Once somebody starts to get going, they believe in each other and they do really well.”
Franklin took a 3-0 lead on a home run by senior Kylie Day in the top of the third inning. In the bottom of the inning, Brenna Fyffe was hit by a pitch and scored on a single by sophomore Annie Fincham. Davis followed with a home run to tie the game. Cammon followed with a single and back-to-back two-out singles by junior Kyleigh Schnitzler and Natalee Fyffe made it 5-0.
Franklin senior Susan Gray homered to open the fourth inning to make it 5-4, but the Wildcats wouldn’t get any closer. The Cougars extended the lead to 7-4 in the fifth inning and broke the game open on Fyffe’s grand slam that increased their lead to 11-4.
“It was a really good game,” Schalnat said. “It was a tight game for quite a long time. (Franklin) played their hearts out and so did we.”
Kenton Ridge junior Kyanne Tyson earned the victory, allowing four runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and two walks.
“She’s doing a great job on the mound,” Schalnat said. “She struggled a little bit there at the beginning when we gave up those three runs, but she came back and I think she threw even harder after that happened. She’s doing a great job.”
Kenton Ridge advanced to face seventh-ranked Greenville (26-4) in a D-II regional semifinal game at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Wright State University. The winner will play either No. 2 Granville or No. 9 Indian Lake in the D-II regional final at Wright State University for a berth in the D-II state tournament. All tickets are available online at ohsaa.org.
The Cougars fell to Greenville 5-2 in the regional final last season. Wednesday’s matchup will mark the fifth time Kenton Ridge has played the Lady Wave in a regional game, Schalnat said. KR is seeking its first trip to the state tournament since 2013.
“It’s nice being a little bit closer to home,” Schalnat said. “We used to have to travel to Mason. I think it helps having a cheering section, people being able to come to the game. The kids really enjoy that. I think they’ll all be ready to go on Wednesday.”
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