6-run rally in 7th inning lifts Lady Cougars past Lady Pirates

PORTSMOUTH — A walk off 3-run home run from Ivee Rastatter capped off a 6-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Kenton Ridge Lady Cougars 7-5 win over the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates in the Champions Showcase at Portsmouth Notre Dame High School on Saturday afternoon.

"We opened the door. We talk about that a lot," said Wheelersburg coach Teresa Ruby."Giving anyone, especially a good team, three outs an inning and we gave them more than three that inning. And when you open the door for a good team, they're going to take advantage of it."

The Lady Pirates (1-1) seemed to be well in control as they headed into the bottom of the seventh with a 5-1 lead and Kenton Ridge batters had been held to just 4 hits through the previous innings.

In need of momentum, the Lady Cougars (4-0) found it from the bottom of the order to jumpstart their comeback.

A leadoff double by Kendall Glass, then single and stolen base from Chloe Glass put a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs.

Lily Foulk singled to drive in Kendall Glass. Then Brenna Fyffe smacked a fly ball into right field and the ball got lost in the sun and fell near the fence, giving Fyffe a triple and two runs batted in to cut the Lady Pirates lead to just 5-4.

JJ Davis drew a walk to put two runners on, setting the table for Rastatter.

Rastatter got a hold of a 1-1 pitch and drove it over the left field wall for a 3-run shot to complete the comeback win.

Despite the loss, the Lady Pirates put forward a tremendous showing against one of Ohio's top teams.

The pitching performance of freshman pitcher Rylan Butcher was one that Ruby pointed out and gave high praise to.

"(Rylan) doesn't get rattled and she's got a tremendous upside. She's a freshman and we didn't know how she'd do in a big game like this, but she shows us what she's made of and she's a young lady that's going to get better and better."

In just her second start, Butcher pitched a complete game, allowing 7 runs, striking out 7 batters and walking just 4 in the loss.

Ruby was also pleased with her top of the order and felt the in-game experience would pay dividends later in the year with the younger players towards the end of the lineup.

"I thought the top of our order did extremely well. Even their outs were solid outs, like balls hit right at people and we have some younger kids in the lineup that will get better from this experience and start converting those at bats."

The Lady Pirates got their bats swinging right out of the gate, as both Mylee Gleim and Mati Jennings slammed back-to-back homers in the top of the first.

Later Ava Estep singled and later scored on a double steal to make it 3-0 after one.

Estep later blasted a solo shot over the right field fence to extend Wheelersburg's lead to 4-0 in the second inning.

In the sixth, Makenzie Mullens drilled a pitch over the left field fence to extend the Lady Pirates lead to 5-1.

Gleim finished 1-2 with a home run and RBI, Jennings went 1-4 with a home run and RBI, Estep went 2-4 with a home run and RBI, Jaylnn Drake went 2-4, and Mullens went 1-3 with a homer run and an RBI.

Foulk went 3-4 with an RBI, Fyffe went 1-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs, Davis went 1-3, Rastatter went 2-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs, Kendall Glass 1-2 with a double and Chole Glass went 1-3.

Rastatter also picked up the win for the Lady Cougars, allowing 6 hits, 5 earned runs, striking out 7 batters and walking four.

Wheelersburg 310 010 0 = 5 6 2

Kenton Ridge 100 000 6 = 7 9 2

Rylan Butcher and Mati Jenkins. Ivee Rastatter and Brenna Fyffe. W–Rastatter (IP-7.0, H-6, R-5, ER-5, K-7, BB-4, HBP-0). L–Butcher (IP-6.0, H-9, R-7 ER-7, K-7, BB-4, HBP-0). Hitting–Wheelersburg: Mylee Gleim 1-2 RBI HR, Mati Jennings 1-4 RBI HR, Ava Estep 2-4 RBI HR, Emmee Eaton 0-4, Jalynn Drake 2-4, Makenzie Mullens 1-3 RBI HR, Jace Mitchell 0-2, Libby Allen 0-1, Lainey Skeenes 0-2, Lauren Truitt 0-1; Kenton Ridge: Lily Foulk 3-4 RBI, Brenna Fyffe 1-4 2-RBI 3B, JJ Davis 1-3, Ivee Rastatter 2-4 4-RBI HR, Annie Fincham 0-3, Kendall Massie 0-2, Cara Cammon 0-2, Kendall Glass 1-2 2B, Chole Glass 1-3.