Published: May 10, 2008 10:24 pm            

HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL: Stirn, Jeff win first HHC crown in a decade

JEFFERSONVILLE — The hardest thing turned out to be getting all the people in the pictures.

At least that’s how it seemed on Saturday morning, after pitcher Megan Stirn and the Jeffersonville softball team shut down Jennings County in a 7-0 victory that left the Red Devils champions of the Hoosier Hills Conference for the first time since 1998.

Fresh off a dramatic 5-3 win over New Albany on Friday night, in which Jeff led 5-1 entering the final inning only to see the Bulldogs nearly surge back by loading the bases with no outs, Stirn made sure no such drama would unfold. The Panthers were held to just three hits and never mounted a serious scoring threat after a six-run Devil rally in the bottom of the third.

“We came into the season with two goals,” said Jeff coach Becky Shafer. “Obviously everyone wants to win the state championship and win a sectional. But we broke that down into smaller goals and one of them was to put ourselves in position to win the conference.”

Jeff (14-6) led 1-0 entering the fateful third and immediately loaded the bases on singles by Morgan Stirn and Cydney Wilcoxson, with Kelsey Sumler also reaching after being hit by Panther pitcher Leah Kemmerer. That was followed by RBI singles from Erin Harper, Natalie Nikitas and Kim Hensley reaching on an error that allowed another run.

Kemmerer, a freshman who shut down defending champion Floyd Central in a semifinal on Friday, was then pulled for Amber Lozier, who promptly walked in Morgan Stirn — batting for the second time in the inning — to score another Jeff run before finally settling in and keeping the Devils off the board the rest of the way.

“She (Kemmerer) is a great young pitcher,” Shafer said. “We just got to her today. This team is swinging the bats well.”

Meanwhile, Stirn continued to look impressive in running her record to 12-3 on the year. She gave just a single hit over the final three innings, when catcher Tori Magner hit a clean single to left in the sixth. Magner had two of Jennings’ three hits, including a double in the first inning.

In the seventh, faced with the same situation of protecting a big lead, Stirn was up to the task. She issued a walk to allow a single base runner, but fanned two of the last three batters she faced. The sophomore finished the three-hitter with seven strikeouts.

The victory marked the fourth HHC championship for Jeff, a highly-regarded program that has nonetheless had to contend with great teams from Floyd Central, Jennings County and New Albany in its decade-long streak of futility.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the kids,” said Shafer, who also claimed her first HHC title as a head coach. “They have bought into al the things we’ve tried to get them to do. They’ve taken it to heart and been competitive in every game this season.”

But after the pictures were over, Shafer was already talking about a busy upcoming week that includes a matchup at Class A No. 10 Henryville.

“We’ve got four games before sectional,” she said. “We just want to concentrate on playing those to the best of our ability.”

Shafer did shed her business-like exterior for a moment.

“You know, this is nice,” she said.





JENNINGS CO 000 000 0—0 3 2

JEFFERSONVILLE 016 000 0—7 11 0

W — Me. Stirn (12-3). L — Kemmerer 2B — Nikitas (J), Magner (JC).

Record - Jeffersonville 14-6

        

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