Hot Stove softball: Keystone advances to state semifinals with Class B victory

SPENCER — No luck was required for top-seeded Keystone in claiming a 21-6 Hot Stove Class B (ages 11-12) softball regional championship over Buckeye Call It Sports at JB Firestone Park on Tuesday night. Keystone Lucky Penny improved to 11-3 and will face the winner of Tuesday night's Grafton-Midview/Wellington game tonight in Spencer at 6 p.m.. The state title game is Thursday at 8:30 p.m. After a scoreless first inning, Keystone put the game away in the bottom of the second by sending 16 batters to the plate and scoring 12 times on just five hits. Lucky Penny earned free bases the hard way with five batters getting hit by pitches. The bases were loaded for Keystone right out of the gate as Farrah Thomas walked and Kensi Ling and Aubrey Roberts were hit by pitches. Layla Tyson provided the first big hit, driving n a pair with a single to deep short for the first two runs. Annie Meder was hit by a pitch and Gwen Yuronich singled through the right side, sending home two more runs. Beatrice Baker followed with an RBI groundout, Kenedy Durante doubled home a run and Riley Rogers added to the lead with an infield single. After a groundout, Thomas was hit by a pitch in her second at-bat and scored on a single through the left side. Ling sent a run home with a hit and the final run came when Roberts scored on a straight steal of home for a 12-1 lead. "We've worked really hard on being aggressive on the bases this season and swinging at pitches in the zone," Keystone coach Kristen Kastler said. "We had our slump in the middle of the season, but we've really gotten back into the groove." After a long inning on offense, Lucky Penny starter Farrah Roberts went back to the mound and never gave Buckeye (5-9) any breathing room, setting them down in order on a ground out, strikeout and after a walk, a caught stealing. "The coaches talk about going out there and trying to shut the other team down after we have a big inning like that," said Roberts, who struck out four and allowed just one unearned run. "It felt very good to go out there and get a 1-2-3 inning." Keystone pushed its lead to 19-1 with seven runs in the third. Despite being down big, Call It Sports battled back to keep the game from going to a 15-run mercy rule, trimming the deficit to 19-6. Keystone pushed the game back to a 15-run margin, as Durante singled and scored on a steal of home. The final run of the regional championship came when Brotherton singled, stole two bases and scored on a throwing error.