Class A title game goes to Northfield, Addi Baker

Jun. 12—Northfield's Addi Baker took over the Class A high school softball championship in the bottom of the fifth inning Friday night, putting the Norse on her back for a 3-1 win over Clay City.

The Eels seemed to have the game in hand through five innings despite just a one-run lead (that might have been a lot more except for some outstanding defense by Northfield).

And when Hailey Hofmann walked with one out in the fifth and Lexi Thompson followed with a line shot up the middle, a game-clinching rally looked like a possibility — for a fraction of a second.

But Baker, the daughter of Northfield coach Brandon Baker and a Southern Illinois recruit, made a diving catch and turned Thompson's liner into an inning-ending double play.

Baker — who also won the Mental Attitude Award after the game — led off the top of the sixth with a homer to right-center, and seemed to turn the momentum around.

Northfield added two more hits that inning, but Clay City's Elyssa Secrest got out of a second-and-third, two-out jam to keep the score tied. Northfield would have the bottom of its order up in the seventh, giving the Eels two chances to score a winning run.

Secrest nearly broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth, but Northfield center fielder Kyra Kennedy ran down her line drive near the fence for the third out.

And in the top of the seventh, Ainsley Dale — statistically the worst hitter in the Northfield lineup — got a leadoff bunt single. Secrest got a strikeout and Sophie Moshos entered to get another one, bringing Baker back to the plate with two out.

"I probably made a coaching error [by not intentionally walking Baker]," coach Jason Sinders said a few minutes later, and Baker hit a ball off the scoreboard to give her team a 3-1 lead. "We rolled the dice."

Moshos led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, but that was all the Eels could manage.

"I felt like we didn't hit well down the stretch," Sinders said, although Northfield's defense had a little to do with that.

Kennedy roamed to the fence in right-center to rob Hofmann in the first inning, and in the bottom of the third a walk to Moshos and a bunt single by Trinity Sankey gave the Eels their first threat. But Charly Koehler filed deep to left field, and Hofmann's line shot to center was plucked off the grass by Kennedy — again — for the third out.

"It was just crazy," the Rose-Hulman-bound Hofmann said after the game. "I was like, 'I'm not going to hit it to her again,' and then I hit it to her again."

The Eels broke through for their run the next inning. Thompson led off with a double and Hannah Harris walked. Demi Wolfe's rocket up the middle was knocked down by pitcher Abigail Hunter for a force at third, but Secrest smashed an RBI single up the middle. Moshos followed with a bunt that was mishandled to load the bases with one out, but Clay City couldn't capitalize.

"I'm ecstatic that we made it this far," a teary Secrest said after the game, "but it sucks we didn't finish.

"I went into it saying, 'It's just another ballgame, work hard and have fun like we always do,' " she continued. "It wasn't what we wanted, but it was a heck of a ride."

"I'm happy we made it here," agreed Koehler, who is headed to Northern Kentucky. "It's really great [to be here], but we couldn't come out with a win."

"I'm a little disappointed, but still proud we made it this far," Sankey said.

"It hasn't really sunk in that it's the last time in this jersey, playing with these girls," said Hofmann.

Sinders was effusive in his praise for the huge crowd of purple-clad Clay City fans, who were vocal and supportive for all seven innings. "What a community," he said proudly.

But he wasn't as willing to embrace the happy-to-get-here scenario. "I know," he said, "but it was right there [with his fingers less than an inch apart]."