Published: May 21, 2008 12:45 am         

Caston advances; Pioneer’s title streak ends

Comets blank West Central; Pioneer loses lead, game to Triton.

FULTON — Pioneer’s sectional title streak has been ended after a 5-3 loss to Triton Tuesday at the Class A Caston Sectional.

The Lady Panthers had won nine softball sectional championships in a row and were just two short of tying the state record set by Pike Central from 1988-98.

Pioneer’s arch rival, Caston, meanwhile advanced to face Triton in the sectional championship game with a 4-0 win over West Central.

Caston senior Caitlin Frey windmilled a three-hit shutout and the Lady Comets (9-16) batted around in the first inning and scored three runs to give them some breathing room.

Christine Rentschler and Haley Markley had RBI singles in the first inning and Chelsea Sivits added an RBI ground out. Sivits later had an RBI single in the third for an insurance run.

Frey fanned six and walked five in the shutout.

“Cait pitched very well,” Caston coach Tim McCready said. “She struggled a bit with more walks than we’d like to see. She walked three in the third inning, but we dodged a bullet though when Erica Zartman made a heck of a catch in left field. That was a huge play. But take away that third inning she was in control and got lots of ground outs and a few strikeouts.”

McCready also credited his catcher Sivits’ play behind the plate.

“They had runners on second and third with no one out in second inning and she picked a runner off at third base. That was a huge play,” McCready said. “She also threw out a runner at second trying to steal later in the game.”

The Lady Panthers’ loss to Triton left several Pioneer players and coach Janiece Stover in tears.

“It’s been a really hard-fought season and they’ve learned a lot and they’ve grown a lot,” Stover said of her squad. “They deserved this game; they deserved this sectional. It just didn’t work out that way this time. It’s not about how many you get in a row. It’s not about keeping the streak going. What it’s about is earning the win and we didn’t do that today.”

Pioneer (7-15) had a 3-1 lead before Triton (15-12) answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie it and two runs in the sixth to take the lead.

“We’ve kind of done that this year. We’re a very resilient team,” Triton coach Steve McBride said. “We had to battle back in this one.”

Pioneer jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-out, bases-loaded single by Kelly Gates that plated both runs. Triton answered with run in the first on an RBI single by freshman cleanup hitter Katie Claxon, who went 3-for-3 in the contest.

The Panthers got that run back in the fourth when Jessica McBride double and came around to score on an error on a Katy Fox bunt.

The Trojans scored their two runs in the fourth on a two-run double by Krystal Lyons. In the seventh inning Claxon and junior starting pitcher Nethany Kern hit back-to-back doubles to plate a run and Kern’s courtesy runner, Lindsay Ganshorn, scored on a two-strike, safety squeeze bunt by freshman pinch-hitter Larissa Teeple.

The final out of the game was on a diving catch by Triton rightfielder Lacey George on a liner off the bat of Ashley Bender.

Kern held the Panthers to three runs, two earned, on six hits and one walk, striking out five.

Pioneer junior pitcher Nikita Greiner allowed five runs, three earned, on seven hits and one walk, striking out six.

“I was impressed with Pioneer’s pitcher,” coach McBride said. “She was very impressive, threw hard, one of the better pitchers we’ve seen. We’ve got some pretty good pitchers in our conference at Jimtown and New Prairie and Bremen, but she would be right up there with them.”

Triton is about polar opposites with Pioneer as far as the amount of success it has had in its softball program. The Trojans won their first-ever softball sectional game last year en route to setting a school record in wins in a season with 11. They’ve broken that record this year and are playing for a sectional title tonight.

“These seniors when they were freshmen won two games. The four years prior to that we never won a game,” coach McBride said. “It’s great for our seniors because they went through the tough times. It’s nice to get a little reward out of that.”

Stover said her squad was a better team than its 7-15 final record indicates.

“It took us a long time to learn how to play together. We struggled putting all the skills together on the same day,” she said. “I think we are a much better team than our record reflected this year and it’s unfortunate for the girls, it’s unfortunate for the graduating seniors.

“They were hard workers.”

Caston and Triton play for the sectional championship tonight.

Beau Wicker can be contacted at (574) 732-5113 or via e-mail at beau.wicker@pharostribune.com