Valley Softball Ends Season With Sectional Loss To Peru
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NORTH MANCHESTER - Batting in the clean-up spot, Peru sophomore Tara Martin certainly cleaned up Tuesday evening.
With both Peru and opponent Tippecanoe Valley enjoying their best seasons in school history, Martin was just what the doctor ordered for Peru, leading the Tigers to a 7-4 win over the Vikings in the semifinal round of the Manchester 2A Sectional.
Martin put Peru on the board in the first inning with a two-run homer over the left-field fence, and then after Valley put a run across in the top of the fourth Martin answered with a grand slam.
Martin, who also pounded out a single, finished the day 3 for 4 at the plate with six RBIs and two runs scored. The two blasts were her fifth and sixth homers of the season.
"They're an all-around good hitting team," third year Valley coach Brian Barger said. "They're free swingers. We don't have a Goliath on the mound, so we have to work on placement."
Certainly Martin was working on some placement of her own, and it landed the Tigers in tonight's 6 p.m. sectional championship game with Norwell, which beat Maconaquah 6-1 in yesterday's second semifinal contest.
While Martin didn't have trouble clearing the bases and putting runs across for Peru, Valley was just the opposite.
The Vikings put runners on base, but just couldn't bring them home.
All told, Valley left eight runners stranded on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
"We left a lot of base runners on," Barger said. "We just didn't execute. That's two years now that we haven't got our bunts down. Two years ago there were eight bunts we didn't get down. This year I lost count at seven or eight."
With the letters W.I.T. written on the hands of the Viking players, reminding them to do Whatever It Takes, Valley made a comeback in the top half of the seventh.
Junior Abby Shafer and senior Ashley Freeman hit back-to-back 1-out singles and then scored when senior catcher Alicia Terpstra followed by blasting a triple.
Terpstra then scored when classmate Sherise Denny ripped a single, cutting Peru's lead to 7-4.
Valley's next two batters, sophomore Ashley Sainer and junior Kiley Foster, grounded out to finish the game.
Valley, which broke the school record of 13 wins set the past two seasons, finished the year with a 17-8 mark. With the win, Peru is also 17-8.
Renee Gagnon went 2 for 3 at the plate for Valley, while Denny was 2 for 4 with a double.
Senior Season Groninger took the loss on the mound for the Vikings, pitching all seven innings and giving up 12 hits, while striking out three and walking one.
To go with Martin's two long-ball performance, pitcher Crystal Callander went 3 for 4 with an RBI.
On the mound, Callander struck out six, walked two and gave up eight hits in seven innings of work.
While second baseman Jennifer Urbani was the only senior for Peru, Barger's Vikings lose six seniors - Ashley O'Brien, Jessie Dye, Groninger, Freeman, Terpstra and Denny.
"I'm happy with the season," Barger said. "I'm very happy with the seniors, they were with me all three years here and were a great class. They were a big part of this turnaround."
PERU 7,
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 4
Valley (17-8) 000 100 3 - 4 8 4
Peru (17-8) 210 400 X - 7 12 2
Valley AB R H RBI
Shafer cf 3 1 1 0
Freeman ss 4 1 1 0
Terpstra c 3 2 1 2
Denny rf 4 0 2 1
Sainer 3b 4 0 0 1
Foster 2b 3 0 0 0
Groninger p 3 0 1 0
O'Brien 1b 3 0 0 0
Gagnon lf 3 0 2 0
Ogle pr 0 0 0 0
Totals 30 4 8 4
Peru AB R H RBI
Ralston cf 4 1 2 0
Rogers ss 4 1 1 0
Callander p 4 0 3 1
Martin c 4 2 3 6
Urbani 2b 4 0 1 0
Elburn 1b 3 0 0 0
Smithberger lf 3 1 0 0
Graves 3b 2 0 1 0
Walker rf 3 1 1 0
Guyer lf 0 1 0 0
Struble pr 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 7 12 7
2B - Denny, Urbani. 3B - Terpstra. HR - Martin (2).
IP H R BB SO
Valley
Groninger 6 12 7 1 3
Peru
Callander 7 8 4 2 6 [[In-content Ad]]
NORTH MANCHESTER - Batting in the clean-up spot, Peru sophomore Tara Martin certainly cleaned up Tuesday evening.
With both Peru and opponent Tippecanoe Valley enjoying their best seasons in school history, Martin was just what the doctor ordered for Peru, leading the Tigers to a 7-4 win over the Vikings in the semifinal round of the Manchester 2A Sectional.
Martin put Peru on the board in the first inning with a two-run homer over the left-field fence, and then after Valley put a run across in the top of the fourth Martin answered with a grand slam.
Martin, who also pounded out a single, finished the day 3 for 4 at the plate with six RBIs and two runs scored. The two blasts were her fifth and sixth homers of the season.
"They're an all-around good hitting team," third year Valley coach Brian Barger said. "They're free swingers. We don't have a Goliath on the mound, so we have to work on placement."
Certainly Martin was working on some placement of her own, and it landed the Tigers in tonight's 6 p.m. sectional championship game with Norwell, which beat Maconaquah 6-1 in yesterday's second semifinal contest.
While Martin didn't have trouble clearing the bases and putting runs across for Peru, Valley was just the opposite.
The Vikings put runners on base, but just couldn't bring them home.
All told, Valley left eight runners stranded on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
"We left a lot of base runners on," Barger said. "We just didn't execute. That's two years now that we haven't got our bunts down. Two years ago there were eight bunts we didn't get down. This year I lost count at seven or eight."
With the letters W.I.T. written on the hands of the Viking players, reminding them to do Whatever It Takes, Valley made a comeback in the top half of the seventh.
Junior Abby Shafer and senior Ashley Freeman hit back-to-back 1-out singles and then scored when senior catcher Alicia Terpstra followed by blasting a triple.
Terpstra then scored when classmate Sherise Denny ripped a single, cutting Peru's lead to 7-4.
Valley's next two batters, sophomore Ashley Sainer and junior Kiley Foster, grounded out to finish the game.
Valley, which broke the school record of 13 wins set the past two seasons, finished the year with a 17-8 mark. With the win, Peru is also 17-8.
Renee Gagnon went 2 for 3 at the plate for Valley, while Denny was 2 for 4 with a double.
Senior Season Groninger took the loss on the mound for the Vikings, pitching all seven innings and giving up 12 hits, while striking out three and walking one.
To go with Martin's two long-ball performance, pitcher Crystal Callander went 3 for 4 with an RBI.
On the mound, Callander struck out six, walked two and gave up eight hits in seven innings of work.
While second baseman Jennifer Urbani was the only senior for Peru, Barger's Vikings lose six seniors - Ashley O'Brien, Jessie Dye, Groninger, Freeman, Terpstra and Denny.
"I'm happy with the season," Barger said. "I'm very happy with the seniors, they were with me all three years here and were a great class. They were a big part of this turnaround."
PERU 7,
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 4
Valley (17-8) 000 100 3 - 4 8 4
Peru (17-8) 210 400 X - 7 12 2
Valley AB R H RBI
Shafer cf 3 1 1 0
Freeman ss 4 1 1 0
Terpstra c 3 2 1 2
Denny rf 4 0 2 1
Sainer 3b 4 0 0 1
Foster 2b 3 0 0 0
Groninger p 3 0 1 0
O'Brien 1b 3 0 0 0
Gagnon lf 3 0 2 0
Ogle pr 0 0 0 0
Totals 30 4 8 4
Peru AB R H RBI
Ralston cf 4 1 2 0
Rogers ss 4 1 1 0
Callander p 4 0 3 1
Martin c 4 2 3 6
Urbani 2b 4 0 1 0
Elburn 1b 3 0 0 0
Smithberger lf 3 1 0 0
Graves 3b 2 0 1 0
Walker rf 3 1 1 0
Guyer lf 0 1 0 0
Struble pr 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 7 12 7
2B - Denny, Urbani. 3B - Terpstra. HR - Martin (2).
IP H R BB SO
Valley
Groninger 6 12 7 1 3
Peru
Callander 7 8 4 2 6 [[In-content Ad]]