'I feel something different': Behind 18 hits, Aurora softball advances to district final

JEFFERSON — Klary McKay's 2-0 pitch was well executed. It was a strike, but a careful one against one of the area's most fearsome softball hitters.

It didn't matter.

Aurora senior McKennah Metzger pounded the low, outside pitch to the opposite field, sending the ball flying well over the right-field wall.

"Her plate coverage is unbelievable, so if you think you're making a pitch off the plate, one or two balls, she can still put it out," Greenmen coach Sam Petrash said. "I'm not saying that pitch was a ball off the plate or two balls off the plate, but it was a good pitch, right? Her plate coverage being what it is, her red zone is a lot bigger than most players."

It was the first of Metzger's two home runs Tuesday as No. 1 Aurora erupted for 18 hits, including three homers, in a 12-3 district semifinal win over No. 7 West Branch.

The Greenmen advanced to Thursday's Jefferson District final against No. 4 Field.

"Today, we just really focused on coming out and being really aggressive," Aurora junior Sophie Petrash said. "We always say we want to go out there and never come back in the dugout, just keep hitting the ball."

Fear of Metzger also led to a third Greenmen homer.

With Aurora up 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth, junior Rayna Unverferth kept the inning going with a two-out single. With two runners on and Metzger on deck, Petrash knew she was going to get a pitch to hit.

There was no way the Warriors wanted Metzger up without a free base.

Up 3-0 in the count, Petrash took a strike, then another, on a pitch that was arguably out of the zone. She shook the close call off, battering the full-count pitch to the right-field gap, placing the ball perfectly between the center and right fielders. As the ball skittered to the wall, Petrash raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run and a 7-0 lead.

"That was a do-or-die play for both sides, really," Sam Petrash said. "The center fielder makes that play and they have the momentum, right, and they steal runs away from us. But the ball fell, and we work hard on efficient base-running, cutting corners, taking straight lines to basepaths, and our runners are quick but they appear even quicker just because they run the bases so well."

How did Sophie Petrash shake off a tough call and then circle the bases on the next pitch?

"I just think there's nothing I can control about that," she said. "I just have to move on and then control what I can control."

Two pitches later, Metzger (3-for-3, two homers, four RBIs) bashed her second home run, this one a towering shot to right for an 8-0 lead.

"Right off the bat, we saw [McKay] was coming in hot early," Metzger said. "So we were kind of communicating really well, jump on those first good pitches, and I just wanted to show out today and really do everything I could to help this team go. Obviously, you never know where the hit is going to go, but if it was anywhere in my zone, I knew I could hit it, so I just went for it."

"Right off the bat" was a fitting term for the Greenmen (22-1) as Metzger struck out the Warriors' first four hitters. Meanwhile, Unverferth worked a nine-pitch at-bat for a leadoff double in the first with Lailah Bohanan and Metzger adding RBI singles to give Aurora a quick 2-0 lead.

"We brought a lot of energy on the bus," Metzger said. "We were blasting music and [were] really just excited to be here in this moment."

Metzger earned a complete-game win, striking out 12. Metzger actually had a no-hitter going with two outs in the fourth before Addie Craven and McKay got West Branch on the board with back-to-back singles. To the Warriors' credit, they kept battling, scoring a couple of runs in the fifth on Mati Hawk's two-run single to right.

Metzger responded by coercing an inning-ending comebacker, the first of seven straight batters she retired to end the game.

"She was bringing it," Sam Petrash said. "She had some extra stuff today, and it was just fun to sit back and watch her."

They'll all bringing it now, said Unverferth.

"I feel something different with these girls," she said. "We're an amazing group. We've got so much talent, but the difference is that we work as a team and not as individuals, which makes a huge difference."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Behind two McKennah Metzger homers, Aurora softball advances