Jaydin Reeves fields a ground ball. FILE/JOHN DECKERWhite House Heritage softball’s first region championship season since its state runner-up finish in 2018 ended on Friday with a 13-1 loss to Marion County in the Class 2A sectional.
The Patriots (17-16) scored their lone run in the first inning while Marion County scored at least two runs in every frame except for the second.
Heritage rebounded from a loss to Westmoreland in the District 7-2A championship game to down Stratford and the Eagles for the Region 4-2A title to host its sectional game.
It had lost five of seven entering the district tournament on May 2. The Patriots then won five of the next seven to finish as district runner-up and region champions.
“I think they realized they’ve taken one game at a time and taken one at-bat at a time and realized that they have time to score runs and they don’t have to swing at every pitch and they can take their time and chip away each inning,” Heritage head coach Emily Nicholson said.
“They’re not so rushed. They’re a little bit more calm, cool and collected. And these past few games, they don’t get upset and they don’t get down when something happens. They recover, they reset and do what they’re supposed to do, move on to the next pitch.”
Marion County (32-10) tagged Heritage starter Makenzie Morris for eight runs on eight hits and two walks before scoring five runs on four hits and four walks against Aubree Anderson in relief.
Albany Harris began the game with a ground out for the Warriors before Brylee Thomasson singled to right field. One batter later, Brynna Thomasson crushed a two-run homer to center field for a 2-0 Marion County lead.
Heritage scored its lone run in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single from Morris that plated Kendall King from second base.
It ended its night with one run on five hits, zero walks and three strikeouts as a team.
“I think it’s just like coming into it, we were all nervous,” Morris said. “We were all looking at stats before and we just really overthought it. It’s another thing with the attitude. It’s like one person got down, so we were all down and nobody was hitting.”
Anderson and Morris had two hits each while King added one. Morris had the team’s only RBI. Marion County scored 13 runs on 12 hits and six walks. They only struck out twice as a team.
Heritage graduates just one senior from its roster in second baseman Jaydin Reeves. She was one of three upperclassmen to go along with 12 underclassmen on Nicholson’s squad.
“Our future is bright,” Nicholson said. “I’m really proud of them and it’s just a fun group to be around. But I think they’ve realized we have so much more to play for and what if we just go out there and have fun? What if we just do our job and we have fun and we reset? They’re just a really fun, energetic group and they keep us up.”