16th Region softball championship: The last straw: Rowan ties game with one strike left, Howard walks off in the eighth to defeat Ashalnd 5-4

MOREHEAD Teams taking the diamond are no strangers to the concept of being “down to your final strike.”

There comes a time in every game where one team is one strike away from losing and the other from winning.

On Saturday, Rowan County was down to its final strike on three different occasions in the bottom of the seventh inning of the 16th Region championship game versus Ashland.

But the Vikings kept fighting.

Trailing 4-2, Diamond Wills and Malana Hamm both hit singles while staring a season ending loss in the face with two outs and two strikes on the board.

Then Lauryn Eastham stepped up and faced the same two-strikes scenario before blasting one into right field to bring Wills and Hamm home to tie the game up and send it to extra innings.

“This team is something special,” Eastham said. “I knew, even when we had two outs on us, that we were capable of coming back, so I never put that doubt in my mind. It was a chance for me to come up and… I had to make an impact so I was happy to do it.”

“We’ve told them from the very beginning, just keep throwing punches,” Rowan County coach Kaitlyn Muncy said. “(Wills) was down to her last strike when she got that hit. My top two are so quick and they got on for us… And for Lauryn to hit them in… she always puts a lot of pressure on herself so just before her last hit I told her, ‘Don’t try to do it all. There’s people behind you that will produce.’ And she got it done.”

But Rowan County wasn’t done yet.

In the bottom of the eighth, Ryleigh Howard ignored the two outs posted and air mailed a ball over the left field fence to win the game, and the region title, with a walk-off home run, 5-4.

It was the first home run of her career.

“I was panicking when the pitch came at me, I was just like, ‘please don’t pop up to second,’” Howard said with a laugh. “I was so scared.”

Muncy said her assistant coach called the homer ahead of time.

“My assistant coach, Kelly Ford, has called a few home runs this season and I heard him say in the dugout ‘This is about to be it,’” Muncy said. “And as soon as it left her bat, I’m going to be honest, I lost all control of myself and I just flopped on the ground. Just so many emotions. And it was Ryleigh’s first career home run ever. I told her, ‘No better time than now.’”

For Wills, whose seventh inning hit to keep the game alive came by outrunning the throw to first and beating the ball by a split second, the win was indicative of the fight her team has.

“We’re just hungry,” Wills said. “We want to go to John Cropp and we did everything we could to get there. We still want to play as a team; we don’t want to give up softball yet.”

Kassi Perkins, who was named tournament MVP, was able to settle down after giving up some early runs to the Kittens, finishing the game with eight strikeouts.

Ashland never had more than four up to bat in an inning starting with the fourth stanza.

Rowan County’s rally spoiled what looked like a one-sided Ashland win as the Kittens led 4-0 through three and a half innings.

Brookelyn Duckwyler, who finished the game with a double and a triple for Ashland, drew first blood when she belted a shot to left field that got two home on a standup double with an extra base.

Duckwyler trotted in a few pitches later thanks to a Jenna Delaney single.

Ashland’s other run came in the top of the third when Ashley Ingram stole home on a passed ball.

“Addi (Laine), little Delaney, B-Duck (Duckwyler)… everybody knows what they can do,” Ashland coach Scott Ingram said. “I could sit here all night and tell you the ways that these girls have grown, every kid in our lineup. I’m just disappointed for them. We’re inches away and I think that we can be right back here next year.”

The Vikings got their first run of the contest in the bottom of the fourth frame.

Lauryn Eastham led off with a standup double to centerfield.

Kassi Perkins got Eastham home in the next at bat with an RBI single.

Perkins eventually made her way to third with just one out posted, but the Kittens escaped the inning without any further damage.

Rowan County got a crucial run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead from 4-1 to 4-2 and set up the seventh inning comeback.

“This hurts because you want it for them,” Ingram said. “I couldn’t care less about my feelings. I know everyone probably thinks like this, but you get to this point and I know what we’ve done. I know the effort and the sacrifice these kids make. So to come up short, it’s heartbreaking. I guess that’s the word. It’s just heartbreaking.”

That run came on a pair of back-to-back fielder’s choices that moved Hamm around the bases before coming home. Hamm had reached on an error.

The Vikings will move on to the state tournament for the second time in three seasons. They progressed to the semifinals at State in 2023 in what was legendary coach Larry Slone’s final run with the team he helped found.

“It’s so surreal,” Muncy said. “I got to play for Larry in 2007 and 2008 on those (region) championship teams. Then I got to be an assistant when he went to the state tournament in 2023, so for me to this as the head coach, it’s just so special. I’m so proud of these girls because we wouldn’t be celebrating without them.”

After walking off the victory, Howard thinks the sky’s the limit at State.

“This team is like a big family,” Howard said. “Once we get started, there’s no stopping up. We’re going to go (to State) and win it.”

Wills and Eastham were both part of the 2023 state-semifinals team and are excited about going back to John Cropp Stadium.

“I’m looking forward to spending that time with the girls and play on that field,” Wills said. “That field is nice and the environment is great. And I’m excited to have everybody watch us play and be a great team.”

“I want to make another run to the final four,” Eastham said. “That would be great, but I’m just looking forward to enjoying it while we’re there, have fun, because we never know when we’ll get to go back.”

Rowan County will play the winner of the 12th Region on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington.

ASHLAND 031 000 00 - 4 6 2

ROWAN CO. 000 101 21 - 5 6 1

Laine and Duckwyler; Perkins and Eastham. W - Perkins. L - Laine. 2B - Duckwyler (A), Eastham (RC). 3B – Duckwyler (A). HR – Howard (RC).

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