Northwest third baseman waits for the ball as the Back Mountain’s Medeline DeSanto reaches third base Wednesday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Back Mountian’s Sydney Haydu (18) celebrates scoring the game-ending run with Lacey Youngblood on Wednesday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
The Back Mountain’s Addison Butler reacts as she scores in the fourth inning Wednesday night against Northwest.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
The Back Mountain All-Stars run with the pennant after winning the District 31 major softball title on Wednesday.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
The Back Mountain’s Reese Jenkins reacts after hitting a double in the fourth inning against Northwest on Wednesday.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
ASHLEY — After cutting Back Mountain’s lead in half and bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in the top of the fourth inning, it looked as though Northwest might be finding some momentum in Wednesday’s District 31 major softball title game.
But Back Mountain had other plans.
An eight-run bottom of the fourth, highlighted by a three-run inside the park homer from Addison Butler, put the title game away early as Back Mountain won the District 31 title 12-2 in four innings at the Ashley Softball Complex.
Annie Osipower put the finishing touches on things with a long double into the right-center gap, chasing around Lacey Youngblood to activate the ten-run rule and secure the championship. Even with 12 batters in the order, Back Mountain was still able to bat around in the final inning.
“We’ve started off our first couple games pretty slow, we always have that one big inning,” said Back Mountain head coach Heather Spudis after the game, while her team was doing the ceremonial victory lap with the championship banner.
It looked like that big inning was coming back in the second inning, when Back Mountain scored four runs, and loaded the bases looking for more.
Back Mountain brought 10 hitters to the plate in the second, starting with Youngblood, who singled and came around to score. Additional runs were driven in by Julia Sholtis and Sophia Davidson, who had a two-run single to make it a 4-0 game.
Northwest pitcher Callie Welch was able to limit the damage, stranding the bases loaded with a strikeout of Butler to end the inning.
On the mound for Back Mountain, Youngblood seemed in firm command through the first three innings, only allowing one baserunner and striking out three.
She ran into some trouble in the fourth, however, as Northwest’s first two hitters reached, and eventually came around to score.
Spudis made the decision to lift Youngblood in favor of Sydney Haydu with two outs, and two runners on, the go-ahead run at the plate.
Haydu didn’t flinch in the pressure spot, getting Northwest’s Addison Sutliff to strike out looking to escape the inning with the lead intact.
“The two of them [Youngblood and Haydu] complement each other so well,” Spudis said. “I thought it was a good time to make that pitching change because we had already gotten through the order once, so maybe bringing Sydney in would throw off their timing a bit.”
The lone out recorded by Haydu would turn out to be the only one she needed to get, as the Back Mountain offense exploded in the home half of the inning.
Starting with Sholtis’s leadoff single and ending with Osipower’s double, Back Mountain tallied five hits and eight runs in the inning. The only hitter who didn’t reach base was Davidson, who instead drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
After the next two hitters reached base, Butler stepped up and hit one into the gap that got by everyone. Butler never broke stride, racing all the way around to score and nearly catching her teammates in the process.
“She’s a pretty consistent hitter and this year, Addison has grown tremendously as a leader on the field too,” Spudis said.
Back Mountain will now advance to the Section 5 tournament, scheduled for July 5-9 at a host site yet to be determined.
District 31 Major Softball Championship
Back Mountain 12, Northwest 2 (4 inn.)
Northwest`AB`R`H`BI
Welch p`2`0`2`0
Diltz c`1`0`0`1
Birth 3b`2`0`0`1
Sutliff ss`2`0`0`0
Paull dh`1`0`0`0
A. Natus cf`1`0`0`0
Roote 2b`1`0`0`0
May 1b`1`0`0`0
Agostinelli lf`1`0`0`0
Mason lf-cf`0`1`0`0
B. Natus rf-p`0`1`0`0
Kittle dh`1`0`0`0
Totals`14`2`2`2
Back Mountain`AB`R`H`BI
Butler cf`3`1`1`3
Spudis 2b`2`1`1`0
Traver c`2`o`0`0
Youngblood p-ss`2`2`1`0
Haydu ss-p`2`0`0`0
Osipower 3b`2`1`1`1
Sholtis lf`2`2`2`1
DeSanto 1b`2`1`1`0
Brunn rf`1`2`0`1
Davidson dh`2`0`1`3
Jenkins dh`1`1`0`0
Rigol dh`0`1`0`0
Totals`21`12`8`9
Northwest`000`2 — 2
Back Mountain`040`8 — 12
2B — Osipower. HR — Butler.
Northwest`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Welch (L)`3.1`10`8`3`3
B. Natus`0.1`2`2`2`2`0
Back Mountain`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Youngblood (W)`3.2`2`1`7`3`1
Haydu`0.1`0`0`0`0`1
