LEBANON – Miami East is the type of team that has a never quit attitude regardless of what the scoreboard reads. As long as the Lady Vikings still have pitches coming their way, there is always a chance.
Waynesville knows first hand as its season was ended for the second straight year thanks to a Miami East comeback victory. Last season n the Lady Vikings defeated Waynesville on a walk-off home run by Kyleigh Kirby and on Thursday Miami East came back from a 7-1 deficit to score seven runs in the top of the seventh to claim an 8-7 win and a second straight district championship.
Things didn’t go well for Miami East in the first six innings as Waynesville had all of the momentum in building a 7-1 lead. With only three outs left and a huge deficit, many teams would have packed it in.
But that’s not the way Miami East rolls as evident by Monday’s 4-3 win over Springfield Shawnee where the Vikings battled back from a 3-2 deficit in their final at bat.
A six run deficit is much more challenging, yet Miami East got things started with a double by Reagan Howell. Howell scored on an error and things started to unravel for Waynesville as three Viking batters walked and another reached on a fielder’s choice. With the bases loaded and two outs, Whitney Enis and Jadyn Bair walked to make the score 7-4 and then Jaycee Roeth singled two drive in two more runs to cut the margin to 7-6.
Reagan Howell returned to the batters box for the second time in the inning and was one pitch from being retired at the plate. Howell came through in the clutch with a two-run base hit to give Miami East an 8-7 lead.
With the tables turned, Miami East followed by recording three straight outs in the bottom of the seventh for the victory.
Miami East improves to 18-6 on the season and advances to the regional semifinal against Carlisle, who is unbeaten at 23-0. The game will be played next Wednesday at 2:00pm at Centerville High School.
It’s a rematch of last year’s 11-8 win for Miami East in the regional semifinal where it was a back-and-forth game before the Lady Vikings erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.