'It's a great feeling': Lakota West softball captures 3rd regional title in 4 years

DAYTON — Co-Greater Miami Conference softball champions Oak Hills and Lakota West squared off Friday afternoon in a Division I regional championship with a spot at state on the line.

For the third time this season, the two rivals clashed in a one-run affair. This time, Lakota West pulled out a 3-2 win at Wright State University to claim the program's sixth regional championship and third in the last four seasons.

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"It's a great feeling. It never gets old," Lakota West head coach Keith Castner said. "I'm very proud of our girls. They want it so bad. They want to be the best and it's just awesome. I hope we just keep going and get to play two more games."

It's now back-to-back trips to the Final Four in Akron for Lakota West (26-4), which fell in the state semifinals last season.

"Last year, we fell short up there," Lakota West pitcher K.K. Mathis said. "It's a different hunger inside of you to go get it this time."

It was Mathis who guided the Firebirds past the Highlanders. The senior tossed a complete game, allowing only two hits and two unearned runs with five strikeouts for her 20th win of the season. She took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and scored two of the Firebirds' three runs.

"I was in the zone. I was ready to go," Mathis said. "Me and (catcher) Kendall (Forren) worked hard together really analyzing what we needed to throw and what was working."

It was like clockwork through the first six frames for Mathis, who retired the first seven Oak Hills hitters. In the sixth, shortstop Niki Bode broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single, but Mathis retired the next batter.

In the seventh, Oak Hills had two runners on and two outs and was down to its final strike when Gretchen Hansen's line drive was dropped, allowing two runs to score. Mathis prematurely fired her glove skyward, but quickly composed herself to strike out the final batter to officially send the Firebirds into celebration mode.

"I was like, 'I got you, you got me. We're gonna finish this out,'" Mathis said after Oak Hills made it a one-run game. "It's always next pitch. My mindset, I already knew we had this thing won. I'm sure it was embarrassing to throw my glove up right there, it definitely was; but I knew I had the next girl."

Offensively, Lakota West had to face reigning GMC Pitcher of the Year Avery Gottlieb, who entered Friday 23-4 with a 1.00 ERA and 222 strikeouts over 147 innings.

Games this deep in the tournament between two top-tier teams who are familiar with one another usually come down to clutch two-out hitting. The Firebirds got that in the first inning when senior third baseman Haley Hibbard ripped a two-run single to left field for some early momentum, scoring Molly Grace and Mathis.

Hibbard is now 10-for-14 (.714) with five RBI over the last four games.

"She's been hitting the tar out of the ball," Castner said of Hibbard.

In a tilt between two power pitchers where runs are expected to be at a premium, Hibbard's two-run single allowed some early cushion for Mathis to operate.

"It gives you a little breathing room so you can relax and sit down and calm yourself a little bit and play your game better," Mathis said.

Lakota West played add-on in the third inning when Mathis, who walked earlier in the frame, scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.

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But Gottlieb settled in, too, for Oak Hills, which was making its first regional final appearance since 2012. The junior retired 10 of Lakota West's final 11 batters, working around a lead-off single by Forren in the sixth. Gottlieb finished the outing with three runs allowed (two earned) on four hits, three walks and five strikeouts.

Oak Hills finishes a banner year at 24-5 and won the program's first district championship in 10 years. The Highlanders, led by Southwest District Coach of the Year Jackie Cornelius-Bedel, won't have to wait long to reload. Oak Hills will graduate only two seniors (Lily Hayes and Morgan Dornbush) and return eight players from Friday's lineup.

Lakota West advances to the Division I state semifinals at Akron's Firestone Stadium. The Firebirds will play the winner of Saturday's regional final between North Canton Hoover and Austintown-Fitch on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

Lakota West is hoping to snap a nearly four-decade dry spell for big-school softball clubs in Cincinnati. The area has not had a big-school state champion since 1985 (Hamilton) and are a combined 0-9 in Division I state title games since the OHSAA switched to the divisional format in 1990.

"We're just really excited and feel very blessed to be able to be one of the four teams (left) in Division I and hopefully we can bring something back for Southwest (Ohio). It's been too long."

Lakota West 3, Oak Hills 2

WP— Mathis (20-3); LP— Gottlieb (23-5)

Leaders: OH— none. LW— Hibbard 2 RBI.

Records: LW 26-4, OH 24-5.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Lakota West tops Oak Hills, 3-2, for DI regional softball championship