AKRON — Danville’s trip to the state championship game took an interesting path through the Division VI state semifinal on Wednesday in Akron.
Fans were in for a game that offered a bit of everything, but ultimately a strong rally by the Blue Devils who subdued Dalton 11-4 for a ticket to the state finals at historic Firestone Stadium.
“I am just really proud of the way they all played,” Danville coach Charlie Duncan said.
There were a total of a dozen strikeouts at the hand of ace pitcher Addy Bocock. There were five errors committed by the Bulldogs, a conventional home run, and an inside-the-park roundtripper.
Danville (24-5) will meet West Jefferson at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at the same venue for the state crown. The Roughriders blanked Lincolnview 8-0 in the other semifinal, a game that ran long and forced a delay of just under an hour for the Blue Devils/Bulldogs game.
The game began with some nervous moments for Danville when Dalton’s Hannah Wengner slapped a base hit to short left field. That was followed by a bunt by Sara Geibel, which the Blue Devil third sacker failed to field cleanly, placing the first two runners on base. An old-fashioned Texas Leaguer, a short fly to right field, dropped loading the bases with no one out. Kenna Doty gave Dalton an early lead with a single to left, followed by a sacrifice fly Syklar Fletcher pushed the lead to 2-0.
After two Blue Devils reached base in the bottom of the first stanza, two errors on fly balls allowed the Devils to get on the board.
Both teams settled down until the third inning when Danville plated three runs thanks to a home run off the bat of Ruby Bartock and three consecutive singles, including an infield hit by Riley Johnston, scoring the fourth run giving the Devils a 4-2 lead.
Dalton’s Hanna Wenger drilled a two-out, two-run inside-the-park home run, knotting the game at 4-4. Those would be all of the runs the Bulldogs could muster as Bocock settled in and finished the game with 12 strikeouts.
With the help of five Bulldog errors, Danville was able to put the game on ice.
Dalton entered the game with a 10-game win streak, while the Blue Devils, sporting the identical record, spread their wins more evenly through the season. Those sporting the Danville Blue will, in unison, agree that the most important victory was the one on Wednesday.
The state championship game will be a rematch of last year’s district final, which West Jefferson won 3-0.
This will be Danville’s third trip to the state finals. The Blue Devils won the Division IV title in 2008 and finished as runner-up in 2017.