Dominate Strasburg softball continues postseason run with mercy-rule win over Beallsville
STRASBURG — The domination tour continues for the reigning Division IV state softball champion Strasburg.
The No. 1-seeded Tigers easily repeated as a sectional champion Friday, rolling to a 12-0 win stopped after the top of the fifth inning against the Beallsville Blue Devils at Franklin Park.
Just how dominant has Strasburg been on the tournament trail? In two sectional tournament games, it has outscored its first two opponents — Hiland and Beallsville — by a combined 28-0 with both wins ended by the mercy rule.
“I feel like we’re kind of peaking at the right time,” Strasburg coach Tom Spidell said after Friday’s win. “We’re on the upward swing right now. The girls from the last couple years know it’s tournament time and we can’t take anybody lightly.”
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Friday’s blowout win launches the Tigers into the Division IV district tournament where they will play the winner of No. 8 Woodsfield Monroe-Central and No. 12 Tuscarawas Central Catholic in a D4 district semifinal at 5 p.m. Monday at a site to be announced by the OHSAA.
Monroe-Central and Tuscarawas Central Catholic had their sectional title game postponed earlier this week and will play at 2 p.m. Saturday at Harrison Central.
The Tigers had many stars in Friday’s sectional title win.
Senior standout pitcher Ameia Spidell (committed to Ohio Dominican) twirled a one-hitter against the Blue Devils. She struck out 15 and walked none.
“Amelia was really good again today,” Tom Spidell said. “If we keep pitching like that, we’ll do alright.”
Offensively, the Tigers, who repeated this season as Inter Valley Conference North Division champions, scored in every inning. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first, expanded it to 5-0 after two, 7-0 after three and 12-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
Leading the Tigers’ 13-hit attack was Amelia Spidell (three hits, including a double and triple and three RBIs), Miley Reifenschneider (two hits, including a three-run home run), Rylee Becker (two hits and two RBIs), Rayelle Watkins (two hits, including a double), Ada Richards (two hits), Olivia Spidell (double and an RBI) and Addy Sibila (single).
“Offensively, again it was up and down the lineup with a lot of hits throughout,” Tom Spidell said. “Miley (Reifenschneider) had the big shot with her homer.”
Strasburg has prepared well for a repeat run at the Division IV state title. The Tigers once again loaded up their regular-season schedule with larger programs such as Poland, John Glenn, Triway, Steubenville and many others.
“We try to schedule the best teams and the best pitchers,” Tom Spidell said. “Whoever will play us, we like to (play them). I think we had six or eight Division I teams that we played this year and it’s for that purpose.”
Tom Spidell added in tournament play it’s all about taking things one game at a time and preparing well for each opponent.
“I keep telling them the teams we’re playing right now have the same record as we do,” the coach said. “Everybody is 2-0. So, we’ve got to be ready for that third game. Postseason is completely different and it doesn’t matter what you did during the season, you’ve got to be ready.”
With Friday’s win, the Tigers are now 24-3 on the season and haven’t lost to a team in their own division.
While they await the winner of Saturday’s Woodsfield Monroe-Tuscarawas Central Catholic to find out who they play next, Spidell says his team will practice hard and prepare for whatever opponent they end up playing in Monday’s district semifinal.
“We’ll get back to work tomorrow and get ready for Monday,” closed the ultra-successful Strasburg head coach.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Strasburg softball defeats Beallsville in sectional championship
