Meadowbrook 1,
Martins Ferry 0
BYESVILLE -- The Meadowbrook Lady Colts snuck past Martins Ferry, 1-0, in OVAC class 3-A quarterfinal action.
Kinsi Tellep struck out 11 and allowed one hit in a winning effort for the Lady Colts (13-3).
Shayla Outward struck out two and walked three to get the loss for Martins Ferry.
Chelsey Roberts led the way for Meadowbrook with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth that proved to be the difference in the game.
Roberts also finished with a single for the Lady Colts.
Karlen Vinci had the lone hit for Ferry with a single.
Claymont 4,
Meadowbrook 3
UHRICHSVILLE --The Lady Colts of Meadowbrook High dropped a tough 4-3 decision in nine innings to Claymont in East Central Ohio League action.
Shelly Dunn picked up the win on the mound for the Lady Mustangs with a pair of Ks and five walks.
Jordan Smith hit three singles for the hosts, while Ashleigh Bollon contributed two singles and three RBI.
Kinsi Tellep fell to 13-3 on the season despite totaling 17 strikeouts and just three walks.
Alyssa Wright clubbed a home run for Meadowbrook (13-4, 5-2 ECOL) with two RBI. Tellep added a double and a single, and Candace Neff chipped in a pair of singles.
Cambridge 2,
Mdadowbrook 1
Jeff Harrison
For The Village Reporter
After letting a couple of scoring chances slip away earlier, Cambridge High got it done in the bottom of the seventh inning when junior Paige Young delivered a game-winning RBI single to lift the Lady Bobcats to a 2-1 victory over Guernsey County rival Meadowbrook on Wednesday.
Young's hit knocked in sophomore pinch-runner Abby Marlin, who took over after sophomore Kayla Francis led off the seventh with a bloop single to left field. Marlin then was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Brittany Berger ahead of Young's two-out, game-winning hit.
The victory by Cambridge (13-3, 2-3 East Central Ohio League) avenged an earlier 4-0 loss to Meadowbrook (13-5, 5-3 ECOL).
"Every time we play Meadowbrook, it's going to be a close game and it's always emotional for both teams," said Cambridge coach Bob Shepard. "I said the first time we played that we wanted to get better every game. We've been improving and it's paying dividends for us."
Not surprisingly, the game featured a pitchers' duel between Cambridge southpaw Young and Meadowbrook senior Kinsi Tellep. Young (9-3) finished with a three-hitter, striking out six and hitting one batter while Tellep (13-4), battling a hamstring pull suffered the night before, posted eight Ks and one walk while yielding six hits.
The Lady Colts scored the game's first run in the top of the third inning when Sarah Stine reached on an error and scored on an RBI double by junior Candace Neff.
The Lady Bobcats evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth on a single by sophomore Chanel Ford; a sacrifice bunt by junior Maggie Starr and an RBI single up the middle by senior Lacie Mahley.
Mahley was sacrificed to second but CHS was unable to score and then in the sixth, freshman Kristina Cosgrave reached on her second bunt single of the game and Mahley walked, but again the Lady 'Cats were unable to capitalize and the stage was set for the last inning heroics.
Cambridge's Shepard liked the way his team battled this time around against Tellep.
"When you get runners on base, you have to score against her," Shepard said. "I was upset in the first inning when we didn't, but we put a lot more pressure on them this time than we did the first time."
For Meadowbrook, the inability to produce offensively is beginning to catch up much to the chagrin of Coach Bridget George.
"We can't continue to rely on Kinsi to get 17 or 18 strikeouts a game and only score one run," said George. "Sooner or later, it's going to come back to bite you and tonight it did just that.
"When we get runners in scoring position, we've got to push some runs across," the MHS coach continued. "It's frustrating when you have somebody of her caliber and you can't support her with some offense."
Ashley Clark and Alyssa Wright had the other Meadowbrook hits, both singles.
Meadowbrook 4,
Magnolia 0
Jeff Harrison
For Village Reporter
ELM GROVE, W.Va.. -- Intestinal fortitude.
Saturday's performance in the OVAC Class 3-A semifinals proved Kinsi Tellep has it -- and then some.
Not even expected to pitch due to a hamstring injury suffered earlier in the week, Meadowbrook High's Tellep showed her mettle by not only taking the mound, but by striking out 21 of 22 batters in a no-hit performance to lead the Lady Colts to a 4-0 victory over Magnolia at the I-470 Complex.
Tellep dominated from the outset, mowing down a 13-win Magnolia team with ease and getting enough offensive support from her teammates to advance Meadowbrook back into the 3-A championship game on Monday.
Meadowbrook (14-5) will face No. 1 seed Harrison Central in the finals in a rematch of a pitchers' duel earlier this season where Tellep struck out a national-record 37 batters in a 1-0 loss. Harrison Central earned its spot in the title game via a 5-0 victory against Union Local in Saturday's other semifinal.
"Can we say unbelievable...phenomenal...again?" offered Meadowbrook coach Bridget George, searching for the appropriate words to describe Tellep's performance. "We were definitely worried about her throwing today, but she doesn't' want to be held back at all. She really came through for us. That was a good team with some big swingers that she beat."
Tellep, who allowed only a sixth inning one-out walk on a 3-2 pitch to Magnolia's Alexajo Hanna, put her name into the OHSAA record book once again with her 21 Ks, only the third girl to accomplish that feat in a seven-inning contest.
"They kept saying to think of the sectionals, but I just want to play," said Tellep after her gem. "I really like playing in the OVACs and I couldn't let my teammates down."
How bad was she hurting?
"Not as bad as the last couple of days," Tellep related, "but there were a few times I tweaked it a little."
Posting 21 strikeouts will make you forget about the pain for a little while, too.
Meadowbrook had a couple of early scoring chances go by the boards -- a first inning double by junior Kylee Williams and then back-to-back Magnolia errors in the fourth frame -- but the Lady Colts finally broke through with two tallies in the fifth.
Freshmen Maurie Delong and Abby Dudley got things started with back-to-back singles before freshman Sarah Stine, attempting a sacrifice, reached on an error to load the bases. Junior Candace Neff followed with an RBI groundout to plate Delong and then, after a walk to Williams, junior Alyssa Wright lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Dudley for a 2-0 MHS lead.
Delong and Dudley singled again in the sixth but nothing materialized.
Meadowbrook doubled its lead in the seventh when Neff ripped a double to left and, after an out, Wright unloaded her sixth home run of the season -- a two-run shot to left -- and Tellep did her thing in the bottom of the innings to seal the victory.
"We started hitting the ball...finally," said George. "We didn't execute early, but we did late. We got some big hits from a couple of our young kids down in the order that got us going and then Alyssa continued her hot hitting to break it open."
While Tellep improved to 13-5 on the mound, Magnolia (13-3) pitcher Tori Tharp took the loss with eight strikeouts and one walk.
The stage is now set for another "classic" on Monday.
"We expect another tight ballgame with Harrison Central," said George. "We'll have to take advantage of opportunities if we get them, because (HC's Sara) Pelegreen is an outstanding pitcher, too."