Softball: Portsmouth West ace ends Ceramics' season in regional

CHILLICOTHE — The task was not enviable for Crooksville.

Its first regional game in 10 years came against one of the state's top pitchers in Portsmouth West's Sydney McDermott, whose penchant for piling up strikeouts is stuff of legend around Scioto County.

She more than lived up to her reputation.

McDermott struck out the first six batters she faced and yielded only two hits in a 7-0 win in a Division III semifinal game at Unioto High School.

Of the 21 outs McDermott recorded, 18 came via strikeout. She walked two and hit a batter, while Crooksville got a third-inning double from Emma Wilson and a seventh-inning single up the middle from Gracie Peck.

Crooksville coach Casey Vallee, whose teams have been no stranger to facing ace pitchers in regional in his tenure, left with plenty of respect for McDermott's four-pitch arsenal.

When his team adjusted to the riseball, McDermott went to curves and change-ups, in addition to her smoke show of a fastball.

It was the first power pitcher his team had faced in recent games.

"We could have laid down," Vallee added. "They could have put 10 on us and got out of here, but we didn't do that. That shows their character. That shows our pitcher's character. She's never giving up."

A nightmarish start only exacerbated the Ceramics' offensive struggles.

The Senators scored four times off senior ace McKenna Headley with two outs in the opening inning, with an RBI single from Kaylor Pickelsimer and an RBI double from Maci Bradford the big blows.

It was a rally aided greatly by a misplayed popup into a hard-blowing wind and a two-out error that allowed a runner to advance. Another scored on a passed ball.

In all, eight of the Senators' 12 hits and six of their runs came in the first three innings before Headley settled into a modest groove the rest of the way. The Ceramics' usually reliable defense committed three errors that led to a pair of unearned runs.

Vallee didn't think nerves were a factor.

"I don't think we were tight," Vallee said. "A misplayed ball here, a misplayed ball there, a drop. Against McDermott you're in deep trouble down 4-0. She is the real deal and we knew that coming in, but I thought we battled."

The fight back against one of the state's top pitchers was insurmountable. Wilson's double with one out finally gave the team life, but the rally was short-lived when McDermott struck out the next two batters.

One inning later, after West made it 6-0 on Maci Bradford's one-out, two-run single to center field, the Ceramics got their first two on base in the fourth when Riley Chamberlin and Headley drew walks.

But McDermott bowed her neck, getting key strikeouts of sluggers Grace Frame and Jaelynn Nelson and an inning-ending groundout from Peck with runners on second and third with one out.

Chamberlin, one of the few Ceramic hitters to work deep counts in the game, said McDermott's combination of velocity and spin made it difficult to discern her pitch selection.

"It was quite a challenge," Chamberlin said.

Chamberlin, Peck and classmate Brynn Lundell, the shortstop, are among the core of five starters returning that will be counted upon to replace senior stalwarts Headley, Frame, Wilson and Jailynn Theisen.

Peck saw extensive duty in the circle as the team's No. 2 pitcher this season, but the losses of Headley and Frame in the middle of the order will be gaping.

Chamberlin said she learned from the upperclassmen and will help the players coming through the ranks as she becomes one of the team's veterans next season.

"They taught me to have fun, work hard and not take anything for granted," Chamberlin said. "You're going to make mistakes, but you need to learn from it and move on to the next play."

Headley, who signed to play with Findlay, was the player she admired the most. She also took plenty of notes from her older sister, Logyn, who starred on the 2021 team that won a Muskingum Valley League-Small School Division title.

"With McKenna, a lot of times I just saw her as an inspiration," Chamberlin said. "I just followed after her. Whatever she can do I can do, too. I just followed in her footsteps."

Headley was one of many Ceramic seniors that couldn't mask their emotions afterward. Their careers have been filled with highs like winning consecutive MVL titles and reaching their first regional in a decade, along with the lows of losing head coach Greg Williams as sophomores and being upset in the first round of the sectional as juniors.

"This was about what these kids did for the community," Vallee said. "It wasn't just about softball."

Headley said she is looking forward to watching the underclassmen develop as the next step in her career begins. She hopes the seniors' legacy is carried on with future teams.

"I know for a fact that Jae Nelson, if she puts her mind to it, she can have a heck of a season next year," Headley said. "She is one of the best hitters I have ever seen. She has more power than 98 percent of the girls in the MVL, and Brynn and Riley being freshmen this year, they were very inexperienced, but you couldn't tell. They worked hard in the offseason to get ready for this season. I am excited to see how they progress."

The Senators (26-2), in their first regional in six years, advanced to play top-ranked, top-seeded Wheelersburg in the finals at noon on Saturday. Burg topped Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley, 19-0, in five innings in the other semifinal.

Crooksville, which loses four seniors, finished a 20-6 campaign that included the most wins in school history.

"We were coming in knowing this team was going to be way better than what we had previously faced (in the tournament), but Vallee preaches to us to have confidence," Headley said. "Go out and play, we have nothing to lose because we're the underdog. We were the 10 seed coming into this and no one expected us as a 10 seed to get this far, and we made it. We knew we had to lay everything on the line."

sblackbu@gannett.com

740-450-6723

Twitter: @SamBlackburn

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Portsmouth West ace ends Crooksville softball's season in regional