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Lakota West continues to have Lakota East’s number in softball, winning its fourth straight against its school district rival. The latest coming by way of a 6-2 victory Friday over the Thunderhawks.

Last season, Lakota East was ranked No. 1 in the state for most of the spring and lost only three of its 31 games. All three losses came at the hand of the Firebirds, including one that eliminated Lakota East in the state quarterfinals.

“I don’t think they have our number,” Lakota East head coach Steve Castner said. “This is a new year. We have a new group of girls … it is high school softball and the team that scores the most or doesn’t make the most mistakes – wins. That is all it is.”

Entering this season, both schools, which are coached by brothers, Steve and Keith Castner, were tied atop The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Division I Preseason Poll. Entering Friday’s matchup, both high schools were also unbeaten in the Greater Miami Conference in the early going this spring.

“It is always a rivalry. We can always down play it. I never make it about us, the brothers, because it about the girls,” Lakota West head coach Keith Castner said. “They love this game, practically when it is against East because they all know each other. I am really happy for them.”

Sophomore centerfielder Alyssa Hedric, who doubled twice, scored twice and drove in another run, led the Firebirds’ offense.

She scored the game’s first run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning after doubling and advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt.

In the third inning, Hedric drove in sophomore Marisa Walterbusch with her second double. Afterwards, she celebrated by flexing her muscles while standing on top of the second base bag.

“It is a team thing, everyone does it if you get a double or any hit,” Hedric said about flexing after her second double.

Later in the third, Hedric would score on a triple by senior first baseman Amanda Lahti. Lahti, who has signed on to play at Ohio Northern, scored on the play when the relay throw went over the head of Lakota East third baseman Gracie Sprockett.

“We just started off strong, everybody hit, came out on fire and that gave us a lot of confidence throughout the game,” Hedric said.

That confidence led to two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“This win means a lot,” Keith Castner said. “We have a lot of hard working girls, who are bound and determined each game.”

In the loss, Lakota East finished with seven hits, missed multiple opportunities to score and committed two errors. To beat Lakota West, the Thunderhawks head coach said that his team will need to minimize their mistakes.

“We are in game 5, we have 27 games in the regular season plus tournament and you are going to make mistakes in game 5,” Steve Castner said. “It is game 28, 29 and 30 where mistakes cannot happen.”

Both teams will have more time to improve when they face off again April 19 at Lakota East.

BOX: Sharp (5-1, 3 K’s). Buckenmyer (3-1, 6 K’s). LE Rollins 2B, Dendler 2B, Callihan 2B Astrop 2-3, 2B. LW Hedric 2-3 2Bs, Lahti 3B, Walterbusch 3-3, Johnson 2B. LE (4-1), LW (5-1).

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: Alyssa Hedric, Amanda Lahti, Keith Castner, Lakota East, Lakota East softball, Lakota East Sports, Lakota East sports photos, Lakota West, Lakota West softball, Lakota West sports, Lakota West sports photos, Steve Castner

Lakota East and Lakota West featured in The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Division I softball preview

Mark Schmetzer reports

Lakota East’s march to last season’s Division I state tournament was memorably stopped short by Lakota West in the regional finals.

There’s a good chance those two schools will play major roles in this season’s tournament – or, if not those two, another area team, according to Lakota East coach Steve Castner.

“I believe the area will hold its own, as it has for years,” he said.

Castner’s Thunderhawks, who finished the regular season as champions of both the Associated Press state poll and The Enquirer area coaches’ poll, have three first-team all-Greater Miami Conference performers returning in junior Lea Buckenmyer and two seniors, right fielder Ainsley Ellison and shortstop Alyssa Grevenkamp.

Buckenmyer will move from first base to take over for Sara Pearson, last year’s Enquirer Player of the Year. Buckenmyer was 5-0 with a 1.31 earned-run average in 10 games last season.

The Firebirds, who lost in the state semifinals, have experience in senior third baseman Amanda Lahti, who hit .440 while being named first-team all-GMC last season, and senior catcher Jessica Burke.

Fairfield, which tied Lakota West for second in the GMC, returns six starters, led by senior third baseman Kelly Browning, a two-time, first-team all-GMC selection.

Mason also will be counting on seniors, according to coach Liann Muff. Pitcher Sarah Browning was named first-team all-GMC last season while catcher Margo Hutchinson, shortstop Jill Richardson and third baseman Claire Wehby were second-team picks.

Glen Este, the third local team to reach last season’s regional tournament, lost all-state pitcher Kelly Benhase, but coach Tim Gregory expects sophomore right-hander Bailey Miller and freshman left-hander Brook Parker to capably plug the hole for the youthful Trojans.

Mercy, which won the Girls Greater Cincinnati League Scarlet Division championship and reached the Division II regional finals last season, has eight returning starters, including pitchers Amy Feie and Anna Eggleston, to help a weather move up to Division I.

“We have great potential, experienced leaders and team motivation,” coach Stefanie Kathman said.

The Bobcats will be challenged by McAuley, which finished second in the Scarlet behind second baseman Rachel Oakley, who hit .513.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: Ainsley Ellison, Alyssa Grevenkamp, Amanda Lahti, Jessica Burke, Lakota East, Lakota East softball, Lakota East Sports, Lakota West, Lakota West softball, Lakota West sports, Lea Buckenmyer, Steve Castner

Both Lakota East and Fairfield entered Thursday’s matchup with identical 15-2 records within the Greater Miami Conference. When it was over, it was the Thunderhawks who came up on top of a 7-1 victory to claim the 2011 GMC title.

Prior to the game, umpires, coaches and Lakota East’s athletic director Richard Bryant debated on whether to play the game on the muddy field at Lakota East High School.

It was decided that the game, which had already been rescheduled three times, would be played. However, there was an especially muddy spot in right-center field that was chalked off. If a player were to hit it in the designated area, it would be a ground-rule double. That is if an opposing player didn’t catch the fly ball.

After recording the final out. Lakota East players slid, dove and rolled in the muddy area as the team captured its first-ever GMC title.

>>>PHOTOS: FAIRFIELD AT LAKOTA EAST<<<

“It is a nice honor and it is one of our goals every year like it is for every other team in the GMC. We have been fortunate to put things together and get it,” Lakota East head coach Steve Castner said of winning the conference championship.

Prior to the game, Lakota East senior pitcher Sara Pearson pumped up her team.

“We are going to be the first team here to win the GMC,” Pearson said. “We just need to take it. Let’s do it!”

The game didn’t start the way Pearson would have liked, as she gave up a home run to the first batter she faced – Fairfield’s Kelly Browning.

It didn’t take long for the Thunderhawks to strike back. In the bottom half of the first, fellow senior Kelly Hardison ripped a two-out, two-run home run to give Lakota East a 2-1 lead.

“I went up to the plate confident that I had to hit the ball somewhere, I didn’t expect to hit a home run. I wanted to pick up my teammates and Sara, our pitcher, so it felt really good after we hit the home run because I knew we were in this,” Hardison said. “It also helped our team know that we were in it.”

Pearson would go on to retire 13 straight batters and would eventually finish the game without surrendering another run. For the game, Pearson struck out six batters and gave up only two hits after the first inning.

After the game, Pearson was already concentrating on the postseason.

“It feels great, but it is something we need to put behind us in order to focus on Saturday and try to win a state championship,” she said.

Fairfield coach Brenda Stieger likes the Thunderhawks’ chances to win it all.

“I am disappointed in the score and I am disappointed that we didn’t win the league, but that is a very good team,” Stieger said. “I can’t imagine that they shouldn’t win it all.”

Note: Lakota East celebrated Senior Day and honored its three seniors Sara Pearson, Kelly Hardison and Megan Costa. Those seniors and their teammates are scheduled to play Clayton Northmont in a postseason game this Saturday, May 21, at 1 p.m. at Fairmont. Fairfield, which was eliminated in the postseason, finishes the year with a 17-4 overall record and a 15-3 record within the GMC. Meaning, senior catcher Allison Hurst, senior pitcher Erica D’Arcy and senior right fielder Amanda Procter played in their last game at the school.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: Brenda Stieger, GMC Championships, Kelly Hardison, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, Megan Costa, softball, softball Sara Pearson, Steve Castner

Lakota East senior Sara Pearson took advantage of a second chance and hit an eighth-inning home run in what turned out to be a 2-1 victory against the previously unbeaten Fairfield Indians.

After nearly popping out in foul territory to Fairfield first baseman Jeanie Taggart, Pearson took the next pitch and launched it over the fence in right-center field for a game-winning home run in the top of the eighth inning.

“You can’t give a player like Pearson a second chance,” Fairfield head coach Brenda Stieger said. “We really should have had that foul ball, but you give a good player a second chance and those things can happen.”

>>>PHOTOS: FAIRFIELD AT LAKOTA EAST<<<

Fairfield had an opportunity to comeback in the bottom of the eighth, but Pearson pitched a perfect inning and recorded the last out by striking out junior Kelly Browning.

“She is such a competitor,” Lakota East head coach Steve Castner said of Pearson. “She wants the ball on the mound, in the circle, every game … she wants to be the girl at the plate with the game on the line. A lot of athletes aspire to that, but only really good athletes want it.”

Pearson, who has signed on to play at the University of Memphis, dominated the Indians at the plate and on the mound. She went 3-for-4 as a hitter and struck out nine in a complete game performance as pitcher. The win improves Pearson’s record to 10-1 on the season. (more…)

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: Brenda Stieger, Erica D’Arcy, Kadey Astrop, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, Lea Buckenmyer, Princeton, Sara Pearson, softball, Steve Castner