POWER PLAY
First-inning home runs spark Richmond to state semifinal victory over Clinton
Richmond’s 1-2 punch struck early Friday.
Shea VanScoter and Piper Clark each hit first-inning homers to spark the Blue Devils to a 5-1 victory against Clinton in a state Division 3 semifinal softball game at Michigan State’s Secchia Stadium.
VanScoter turned in another strong performance on the mound, allowing five hits while striking out four.
“That one was really tough,” she said. “That’s a tough lineup but I have an amazing defense. I love them all and they really helped me today. They were some of the best hitters I’ve faced all year. They hit everything. They got their bats on everything. None of them really swung and missed.”
Richmond will play Buchanan, a 9-4 winner against Standish-Sterling in the other semifinal Friday, in the championship game Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
VanScoter and Clark both came into the semifinals with batting averages over .600.
VanScoter jumped on an 0-2 pitch and hit it over the fence in left field, a 200-foot shot. It was the second time in the state tournament that she hit a leadoff homer. She did it in the district final against Algonac and was intentionally walked her next three trips to the plate. She also led off with a homer in the regional against Millington.
After Olivia Theut fouled out, Clark hit a 1-2 pitch from Sydney Schuler for her ninth homer of the season.
“I felt good after those two home runs but I’m never really happy until the game is over,” said Coach Howard Stuart. “I don’t want to sound arrogant but I felt we were going to win this game. Those are our two top hitters but we have some other girls who can really hit the ball.”
Stuart thought that when VanScoter and Clark went deep it put home run thoughts in the other players’ minds.
“They relax and say, ‘I can do that,’” he said. “(Schuler) had some kind of spin on the ball and we started thinking home run. When you have a slower pitcher kids think home run. Against a faster pitcher it’s just a challenge to put the ball in play.”
Richmond stretched its lead to 5-0 in the fifth and it was the bottom of the batting order that did the most damage. Clark and Lauren Creon led off with infield singles, moved up on a sacrifice by Amhdar and scored on Makayla Revord’s two-run single. Revord took second on the throw home and scored on Lauren Ziza’s single.
The Redskins, who won the Lenawee County Athletic Association championship with a 14-0 record, spoiled VanScoter’s shutout bid in the sixth. Liberti Fair doubled off the right field wall and scored on Ava Ormsby’s bloop single to left.
Clark also made one of the best defensive plays of the game when she raced from her shortstop position to snag a pop foul down the left field line.
“That really gave us a big lift,” VanScoter said.
Clark made a bid for a second home run in the third when center fielder Jaecy Jones made a nice running catch on her drive to the warning track.
Clinton put two runners on with two out in the third on an error and infield single by Kendall Phillip, but VanScoter got the third out on a grounder to second baseman Theut. Lily Thompson led off the fourth with a single but VanScoter got the next three batters without the ball leaving the infield.
The Blue Devils got a runner to third on an error and a single by VanScoter in the fourth but Schuler got out of that jam with Theut’s fly ball to deep left.
Richmond showed some more good glove work in the fifth. VanScoter deflected a grounder by Schuler to Clark, who made a strong throw to first baseman Jaelyn Amhdar for the out.
“I think it’s great we had the opportunity to make some plays,” Stuart said. “I sometimes put our third pitcher in just so we can play defense. They don’t play defense behind Shea because she’s averaging between 12 and 14 Ks a game. She didn’t have many tonight because they slap the ball.”
Richmond won the Division 2 state championship in 2016 and finished runner-up the following season. This was the seventh trip to the final four since Stuart became coach in 1979.
The Blue Devils, who won the Blue Water Area Conference championship, take a 30-5 record into the title game.