Louisville Lays NBC to Rest with 10th Straight Title – Softball
Louisville 9, Carrollton 1
The Louisville Leopards Varsity Softball Team defeated the host Carrollton Warriors 9-1 Monday Evening at the Field of Dreams Complex. With the victory, Louisville finishes tied for their best record in team history at 24-2 and clinches a share of their tenth consecutive NBC Title with a 13-1 mark in league play.
Teagan Rice batted 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored to lead the Leopards. Rice hit a 2-run double to put Louisville on the board in the second inning and later singled home Sydney McKeever in both the fourth and seventh innings. Rice ends the year on an 8-game hitting streak.
Kaycee Ollis also batted 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI triples that plated Rice each time. Ollis also drove in McKeever in the sixth, stole a pair of bases, and also scored a run for the Leopards. Behind the plate, the catching Ollis picked off two Carrollton runners. One at second base and another trailing too far off first base.
Eight different Louisville batters had hits as the Leopards out-hit the Warriors 13-4. McKeever and Justina Sirohman had multi-hit games. Both Ellie Jackson and Shae Thomas also had RBI singles. McKeever snagged 3 stolen bases as well for Louisville.
In the circle, Sarah Cantley threw a complete game pitching all 7 innings, giving up 0 earned runs on4 4 hits, and striking out 10 for the Leopards. Cantley finishes the season as a 20-game winner with a final record of 20-2.
Carrollton’s only run of the game came in the bottom of the fifth inning. K Anderson singled to left to start the frame, but Cantley fanned the next two Warrior hitters. In the next at-bat, Anderson stole second and the ensuing throw ended up in center field. Anderson advanced to third and then scored on another error during the same play. Carrollton finishes the season with an overall record of 11-9 and matches rival Minerva with an even 7-7 record in the NBC.
This was the 60th all-time meeting between the two teams and the Lady Leopards have now defeated the Warriors in their past 15 games in the series overall. Louisville now leads the all-time series 43-17, which includes a 19-10 record at Carrollton where they have won 10 straight. The last time the Warriors beat the Leopards came on April 13, 2011 by the count of 7-1.
That was Louisville’s only regular season defeat in 2011 as they finished 24-2. This year’s Lady Leopards squad matches that team best mark of 24-2. More importantly, Louisville clinches a share of their 10th consecutive NBC crown tying the West Branch Warriors with a league record of 13-1 for the second straight season. This is the Leopards 11th NBC Softball Title overall, the most of any team in the league’s 29 year history. Louisville finishes 272-130 (.677) in league play during that span, but holds a dominating 121-5 (.960) mark this decade.
Monday’s game at Carrollton marks the final game in the Northeastern Buckeye Conference in any sport ending a 30 year run dating back its inception as a football only league in 1988. Since the Leopards joined the NBC during the 1989-90 season (1990 for football), they have now won 128 conference titles during their time in the league out of 429 seasons of league competition. At about 7:00 PM Monday Evening the Northeastern Buckeye Conference was no more and an era came to a close. Heading into the 2018-2019 school year, Louisville will be an independent and there is no telling when or with who their next league title will come from. But then again perhaps the Leopards are aiming for something much more.
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VARSITY SOFTBALL BOX SCORE
LEOPARDS 9, WARRIORS 1
Team 123-456-7–R-H-E
Louisville 031-102-2–9-13-2
Carrollton 000-010-0–1-4-4
LOUISVILLE LEOPARDS SOFTBALL VARSITY BATTING STATS
Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sydney McKeever | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Teagan Rice | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Kaycee Ollis | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Sarah Cantley | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Alex Fankhauser | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Lauren Bennett | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Shae Thomas | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Justina Sirohman | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ellie Jackson | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Lexi Zavarelle | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ashley Zifer | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kaylee Nolte | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Riley Bobo | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Totals | 36 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 3 |
LOUISVILLE LEOPARDS SOFTBALL VARSITY PITCHING STATS
Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sarah Cantley | 7.0 | 104 | .635 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
Totals | 7.0 | 104 | .635 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
CARROLLTON WARRIORS SOFTBALL VARSITY BATTING STATS
Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
J Pidgeon | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
S Stidom | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Z Drake | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
R Stidom | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
F Loy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
M Harsh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
K Anderson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
M Keyser | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
M Grindstaff | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
S Vipperman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
D Luyster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
C Leggett | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
E Legget | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Totals | 24 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
CARROLLTON WARRIORS SOFTBALL VARSITY PITCHING STATS
Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
S Stidom | 7.0 | 130 | .677 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Totals | 7.0 | 130 | .677 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Records: Louisville 24-2, 13-1; Carrollton 11-9, 7-7