Raiders prevail in replay

The Ryle and Conner softball teams contested Wednesday's rivalry renewal in typically close fashion following a rare Raiders' rout in April's first meeting.

Ryle prevailed again, winning 2-0 in a thriller that remained in the balance until the final at-bat.
The victory secured the top seed in the 33rd District tournament for the defending district and regional champion Raiders (18-8), the top-ranked team in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll.

"We're 6-0 in the district and that wraps up the No. 1 seed for us," Ryle coach Patti Oliverio said. "... You want to be winning to carry that momentum into the postseason."

Second-ranked Conner (11-8) and seventh-ranked Boone County play for the district tournament's No. 2 seed at 4:30 today in Florence. The Cougars finished second to Ryle last year in both the district and the region.

"We have to beat Boone if we want the No. 2 seed," said Conner coach Kristin Koors, whose Cougars have split two games against the Rebels in contests that generated a total of six runs.
Conner found runs difficult to come by Wednesday against Ryle ace Haylee Smith, who struck out seven and walked one.

Facing the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with two down, the eighth-grader wriggled out of the jam. She stranded base runners at second and third by inducing a game-ending ground-out hit back to the circle to preserve her eighth shutout.

One batter earlier, Smith survived a controversial confrontation with Conner all-region power hitter Sarah Begley, who grounded to first base for the second out of the inning. Begley contended the ball hit off her foot before hitting the ground and rolling to first, but there was no call despite Conner protests.

"I hit it, and it came down and rolled right off the top of my foot and they (the umpires) didn't see it," Begley said. "I should have gotten another pitch."  Koors, whose Cougars absorbed a worst-ever 16-1 loss to Ryle on April 21, was waiting for her bats to come alive against Smith, but the right-hander permitted just five base runners.

"That was an important part of the game with Begley and I didn't see it as well as she did, but we had six innings to score a run and we didn't," Koors said.

The Cougars stranded a runner at third in the fifth when they did not properly execute a squeeze play. Ryle took a 1-0 lead in the sixth when Conner starter Elizabeth Sims walked Kate Cremer with the bases loaded. Bella Steinle made it 2-0 in the seventh with a run-scoring single. Steinle had two of Ryle's five hits off Sims.

WP: Smith (17-6) 7 K's. LP: Sims (10-8). Leaders: R-Steinle 2-4. Records: R 18-8, C 11-8.