Flex on em: Lex clubs four homers, advances to regional championship with win over Springfield

SHELBY — Kaylie Eichorn is never late for anything.

She shows up to practice early, she arrives to school well before the first bell rings, and she is always on time to a random Sunday cage session.

LASTING LEGACY: Lady Lex seniors focused on winning now, lasting legacy later ahead of regional showdown

But the Lexington softball senior is going to be late for one of the biggest days of her life on Friday as Lex advanced to the Division II regional championship game at Shelby thanks to a 18-1 win over Akron Springfield Wednesday night. That big event? Lexington High School graduation, which is slated for Friday night at 7 p.m., two hours before first pitch.

"Gladly," Eichorn said. "I'll gladly be late for graduation."

Lady Lex punched their ticket to the regional title game with an offensive outburst that hadn't been seen this season. They scored a season-high 18 runs in the five-inning victory piling up 18 hits and a staggering 18 RBIs with 16 of those runs being earned.

Lex smashed four home runs, one apiece from Eichorn, Kylie Galownia, Kylie Thornton and Quinn Patrick, and Jillian Morr roped four doubles leading the way for Lex to score seven runs in the first inning and nine in the fourth for the blowout victory.

Lex scored more than one run in all but one inning. Something they hope to repeat against Bryan in the regional final.

"That has been something we have been working on every game this year," Lexington coach Todd Galownia said. "We want to add in every inning and in the district tournament, we did that. We scored in every inning but two and we did it again tonight. With that, we know Friday night won't be like that. Bryan has a great pitcher and a great team, and I am sure they want some revenge after playing them two years ago. But we want to go somewhere we have never been."

Lex broke out for seven runs in the bottom of the first highlighted by Patrick's two-run homer and Thornton's three-run round-tripper. They never looked back.

"It is a huge momentum change especially when a freshman comes up in the first inning and hits a two-run home run," Eichorn said. "That is a big deal and set the tone for how we were going to hit the rest of the game."

Lex went on to hit two more homers during that devastating fourth inning when Eichorn hit a three-run homer that cleared the fence by less than a foot, and Galownia followed suit with a two-run blast to left. Lady Lex was digging the long ball.

"They really rattle pitchers," Kylie Galownia said. "It gets us up, and we just get louder in the dugout, and the hits just keep coming."

It was the most homers hit by Lexington in a single game this season and was half of their season total coming into the game.

"Our field is big," Todd Galownia said. "We play on 208-210 field so we do have that kind of power even if it doesn't show in home runs. We hit a lot of doubles and things in the gap that would be out at most places. But to put them out today, it helped us score in bunches and made the game easier. We scored seven in the first inning, and it just changed the game right out of the gate."

Five of Lexington's first six batters had more than one hit as Morr led the way with four hits and five RBIs while Galownia had three hits and three RBIs, Makaree Chapman had three hits, Eichorn had two hits and four RBIs and Thornton had three hits and three RBIs. Patrick had just one hit, but it was a big one to start the scoring off right.

"Our 1-6, I'll put up against everyone and our 7-8-9 are unselfish and do what they have to do to push people around and get us back to the top," Todd Galownia said. "Then, Makaree only gives up one run a game and that keeps us in a lot of games."

Addison Cyrus and Kyra Boyd got in on the action as both had one hit with Boyd adding an RBI.

"We are usually squaring balls up because we aren't thinking ground ball or even home run," Kylie Galownia said. "We work in the cage on hitting line drives and solid contact. Today, they just happened to fly over the fence. It feels like everyone was hitting, and hits are contagious so when the top of the lineup was hitting, the bottom followed and even the girls on the bench came in and got some nice hits.

The offensive outburst made Chapman comfortable in the circle as she allowed just one run on three hits with 11 strikeouts.

"It takes a lot of pressure off of her, too," Eichorn said of the seven-run first inning. "She is great no matter what, but to be able to go out with some wiggle room and have the flexibility to work on some pitches that we might need her to throw in the next game is huge."

Lexington (28-2) is back in the regional championship game for the second time in three years but it feels extra sweet after going 10-15 last season.

"I never thought this," Todd Galownia said. "Early in the season, I thought we would be pretty good and even after winning 21 in a row, I still thought we had a ways to go. It wasn't until about a week or so ago where I really saw just what this team could do. It has always been our goal to get back and once we put it all together, 28-2 is what we got."

But an 18-1 victory proved Lady Lex is right where they belong.

"I think we thought we could get there, but not an 18-1 win in the regional semifinals," Eichorn said. "Even two years ago when we were here, we were winning by one our two runs, not a blow out like this. So it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward."

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lexington Lady Lex beats Akron Springfield in Division II regional semifinals