Wellington topples defending Class B state Hot Stove champs Black River

SPENCER — Black River Stumpwater Farms, the defending Class B (ages 11-12) Hot Stove state champions, will have to wait another year to get back to the finals. The Wellington Bat-Ittudes lived up to their team's name Tuesday night, sending 15 batters to the plate and scoring 10 times in the third inning to power a 21-11 win in the regional semifinals at JB Firestone Park. Wellington, seeded 9th, improved to 5-9 and will face fourth-seeded Grafton-Midview For the Love of Softball on Tuesday in the regional championship game for a shot at the state Final Four. After a 2-2 first inning, Black River sent 10 nine to the plate in the second and scored four times. The big hit in the inning came from starting pitcher Elly Leidy, who singled in two runs and scored on a wild pitch. When the third came around, the Bat-Ittudes came out swinging. Kaydi Collions opened the inning with a double and Reagan Gilgebach singled her home. Daysie Somodki reached on an error, as did Brooke Hines, who drove in a run with a grounder. After the bases reloaded, Lennon Havas walked to force in a run and Aria Varady cleared the bases with a double to left-center. Alaina Woody singled home Varady, and Gilgenbach had her second hit of the inning to make the score 13-6 over Black River (seventh seed). Stumpwater Farms tried to make a comeback in the fifth, sending nine to the plate and scoring four times to cut the lead to 15-11 against Wellington pitchers Somodji and reliever Gilgenbach. Kaylee Galloway walked to reach base for the fourth time and came around to score her fourth run on Leidy's groundout. After a strikeout, Stumpwater Farms scored three times with two down, as Sophia Johnson tripled, Kinsley Hawk and Miller Coffman walked, Chloe Burkett drove in a run with a single and Khloe Lyons sent the fourth run home with an opposite-field single. The momentum faded when Wellington came right back to score three runs in the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, it was run-scoring hits from Collions, Gilgenbach and Somodji to push the lead back to 18-11. Paige Johnston had the only RBI in the seventh with a single. Black River couldn't get anything going against Gilgenbach, who struck out three in relief over 2 /13 innings. Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7136 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.