NEW BLOOMFIELD — Not too long after Holden softball turned the page from its first district championship since 2021, head coach Jeff Smith mentioned his team had been playing some of its best softball of the year.
The Eagles made sure to continue the trend in the MSHSAA Class 2 quarterfinals.
Holden run-ruled New Bloomfield 16-3 in six innings, advancing to the state semifinals for the first time in program history on Saturday, Oct. 25, at New Bloomfield High School.
“That was one of the best games that we have played all year,” Holden senior Haley Brooks said. “We really, once the ball got put into play, we kept going and going. It was really loud in the dugout, which was really good. We were able to just keep each other up the entire game.”
The final four will be the second that Smith has coached in the last four months. In June, he led Holden baseball to a fourth-place finish in Class 3.
This will be the first state semifinal appearance that Holden has had in a girls sport since 2004, when the Eagles volleyball team made a run to state for the third time in the same number of years.
“This group is special,” Smith said. "They're so much of a family. It’s not like any other softball team that I’ve coached. Every one of these kids is close. They play for each other. They’re not selfish whatsoever. If one person is down, everybody else is picking them up. I mean, we saw that [today]. Macey [Greene] had a couple of bad at-bats, the teammates picked her up, and she came in there and got a double at the end. That’s the kind of group that this is.”
It did not take long for Holden to get on board.
After Brooks recorded a single in the second at-bat of the game, freshman Lily Kephart laid down a bunt down the third-base line.
The contact served its purpose, moving Brooks to third while also putting Kephart on base.
An at-bat later, senior Bobbie Diibon grounded into a fielder’s choice that ended up scoring Brooks.
New Bloomfield responded in the bottom of the first to tie the game. It remained 1-1 until the top of the third, where the Eagles added four runs.
That inning also coincidentally included a bunt from Kephart, moving senior Adalyn Campbell to third and Brooks to second.
“We kind of figured watching film that we could probably get some bunts down, get a lot of base hits by doing that,” Smith said. “Obviously, that showed. Their corners weren’t very fast, so as long as we were able to get it down the line, every bunt that we put down was perfectly placed. That happened to work out and get us some runs and get the offense started.”
Following Kephart’s second bunt, New Bloomfield senior catcher Myah Briggs attempted to throw Kephart out at first, but overshot, leading to an error that scored Campbell and Brooks.
Diibon went on to finish off her at-bat with a line drive to right field, scoring Kephart to make it 5-1.
The Wildcats had six errors in the game. Of Holden’s 16 runs, nine were earned.
“If a team makes mistakes, we often make them pay,” Smith said. “We knew going into this game that if we could just limit strikeouts and put balls in play, especially on the ground with no bloops and things like that, if you put the ball hard on the ground, they’re going to make mistakes. We did that. They listened to me. They succeeded in what they were supposed to be doing, and it paid off big time. As soon as that started happening, the pitcher started getting a little flatter and flatter. That’s when doubles and triples start happening.”
New Blomfield cut Holden’s lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the third. The Eagles turned around to add two runs through a home run from Brooks.
Her hit over the fence also brought home Campbell, who reached on a triple. The homer was Brooks’ first of the year, and made the score 7-2.
“I was definitely going up there like ‘make contact, make contact,’” Brooks said. “Not trying to do anything too much. Just nice and simple.”
The Eagles added on another nine runs in the top of the sixth.
Brooks was in the midst of a string of three Holden batters to finish with four hits. Campbell went 4-for-5 with one RBI, Brooks finished 4-for-4 with three RBIs and Kephart finished 4-for-5 with two RBIs.
Diibon went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, sophomore Bella Haggard went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and senior Ady Yoder went 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Senior Macey Greene and senior Addilyn Wooster each had one RBI.
Holden finished the game with 20 hits, 19 coming against Wildcats sophomore starting pitcher Rylee Ellsworth.
The total was the most that Ellsworth has allowed in an outing this season.
“I was unsure of what to expect,” Smith said. “All I could see was what was on film - it’s hard to see what a girl’s really got. We knew what pitches she had. We didn’t know necessarily the amount of velocity that she had. I was kind of unsure what she had. I [said] the other day that I was hoping we could put up four or five runs, and I thought we would be fine there. It turns out, we were able to put up a lot more than that. But, I still feel like we would have been OK.”
Senior Olivia Wooster pitched the win, allowing three earned runs on eight hits and eight strikeouts.
The Eagles move on to travel to Springfield to meet Mid-Buchanan in the semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 31. The Dragons beat MRVC East member Carrollton 17-2 in their quarterfinal.
With a win, Holden would move on to the state championship at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1.
A loss would line them up with a spot in the third-place game at 3 p.m. Friday.
“It’s really exciting, especially since it’s something that has never been done in Holden history,” Brooks said. “Hopefully we can keep pushing and keep winning.”
Joe Andrews can be reached at 660-747-8123.
