PREP SOFTBALL: Vikings fall to Braves in final
May 24—MT. ZION — The Danville softball team has had many lessons over this season and on Thursday, they had its final lesson.
The Vikings only had five hits as host Mount Zion scored big in the first two innings to go on to a 13-0 win in five innings in an IHSA Class 3A regional championship game.
"It was rough and it wasn't the outcome we hoped for," Danville coach Megan Smith said. "It got away from us in the second inning."
After the Lady Braves scored six runs in the first and seven in the second, the Vikings calmed down on defense, but could not get anything going against Mount Zion pitcher Ella Fink. Fink had nine strikeouts on the mound.
"Defensively toward the end, we were much more calm," Smith said. "If we were like that at the start of the game, it would have been a different story, but we also didn't put any runs up either. She (Fink) was a tough pitcher and we didn't get shutout that many times this season."
Going into the game, the Vikings were playing some of its best softball of the season, winning three out of their last four games, including a 3-2 win against Centennial in Tuesday's semifinal.
"I felt like at this point, you have prepared and played so many games so I just told the girls to have fun and work hard and leave it all on the field," Smith said. "I am happy with what they accomplished this season and hopefully we can come back next year, work on getting better and get us a regional title. At this point, we will learn from it and come back stronger."
Kendall Rannebarger, Kay'Leah Belik, Gracie Briggs, Olivia Scaggs and TaeAna Boyd each had a hit for Danville. All of them will be back next year for a team that will only lose senior Jaidyn Hardesty.
We are going to miss Jaidyn, but we will have everyone else back and we have some fresmen come in an d build off everything right we did and get better next year.
For Smith, who ends her first year at the helm with a 12-15 record, she said the team has made this first season one of great surprises.
"It was definitely a better outcome than we expected," Smith said. "Coming in the first year, we had only five varsity letter winners come back. We knew it would be challenging, but we won a lot more games than we expected and made it to the regional championship quicker than expected.
"I was so proud of them because they exceeded expectations and to know what they have poured into the program and the trust that they put in me, I hope that we can keep building the program up because it was exciting to do better than we anticipated."
At Mount Zion
Mount Zion 13, Danville 0
Danville'000'00'— '0 '5' 2
Mt. Zion'670'00'—'13'12'0
WP — Ella Fink. LP — Kendall Rannebarger. Two or more hits — MZ: Fink 3, Audri Johnson, Karlie Teel, Nikki Ellegood. 2B — D: Rannebarger MZ: Johnson 2, Ellegood, Teel, Addison Rotz, Chloe Williams. 3B — MZ: Fink. RBIs — MZ: Rotz 3, Johnson 3, Teel 2, Ellegood 2, Fink, Williams.
