PICKERINGTON — Death. Taxes.
And the Danville Blue Devils winning softball district titles.
They did it again on Saturday – defeating Fairfield Christian Academy, 7-4, in a dramatic, back-and-forth affair at Pickerington Central High School – to claim their seventh district championship in a row and their 15th all-time. The Blue Devils are now one of 16 Division IV teams remaining statewide.
Head coach Charlie Duncan was asked afterwards: Does it ever get old?
“I’ll tell you what, it doesn’t get any easier,” he said with a chuckle. “Winning’s hard. And this group has busted their butt from the offseason – that’s when they start. They said, ‘Stairway to Seven,’ that was their goal.
“And like I said, it doesn’t get any easier. I mean, I still enjoy it, but each year it seems to get harder and harder.”
The Knights, seeded fifth in the Division IV Central District, gave the top-seeded Blue Devils all they could handle on Saturday.
FCA struck first. Emma Smeltzer belted a double to center field in the top of the first, scoring leadoff batter Madison Clauss from second and making it 1-0 Knights.
But Danville responded. Keaura Shilling, one of the team’s two seniors, got things going in the bottom of the first with a leadoff triple to the right field fence. She’d score moments later on a passed ball at the plate, tying the game.
“She’s been doing it all year long,” Duncan said of Shilling, who is committed to play next year at Capital University. “(She) hit the triple to the right wall that got us going. And we were like, ‘Hey, we can hit this girl.'”
The Blue Devils carried this mentality into the top of the second. After FCA pitcher Addison Stem (a Morehead State commit) struck out the first two batters of the inning, Danville’s Emily Weckesser started a rally that would prove decisive in the long run.
The junior rocketed a home run to center field, giving Danville a 2-1 lead and bringing life to her home dugout. Jaylyn Smith would follow, smashing a double to center field, and Shilling would capitalize – hitting a chopper down the third-base line that would score Smith from second.
Shilling scored again moments later, stealing third and then scampering home on a wild pitch. The Blue Devils led 4-1 heading into the third inning.
“That was a huge shot right there,” Duncan said of Weckesser’s home run. “That was with two outs, I believe, and then we scored three more runs after that. So Emily Weckesser got that inning going for us.”
Danville grew its lead in the bottom of the fourth. Weckesser stole second and third, then bolted home on a wild throw, putting the Blue Devils up 5-1.
The Knights narrowed the margin in the top of the fifth, however. Stem hammered a two-run dinger to center field, making it 5-3.
But Danville responded once again. A sacrifice fly to deep right field from senior Camie Newbold scored a hustling Addison Mickley from second. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, the Blue Devils tacked on another insurance run, as Smith blazed around the bases following a deep fly to left and scored an inside-the-park home run with two outs.
Danville led 7-3 going into the top of the seventh.
But the Knights would not go gently. After Danville starting pitcher Grace Gronberg struck out FCA’s nine-hole batter to begin the inning, the Knights dug in. They drew two straight walks, putting runners on first and second with one out.
Smeltzer grounded out to Gronberg on the circle, advancing runners to second and third with two outs. Then, Caitlin Blair drew a walk – loading the bases and bringing the tying run to the plate.
That’s when Duncan emerged from the dugout, called time, and walked out to the circle. He gathered Gronberg and Danville’s infielders for a quick chat.
“I went out and said, ‘Hey, we just need one more out,'” Duncan recalled. “We had two down there, and I said, ‘Relax. Go get this last out. Pitch strikes.'”
Then, Duncan turned to Weckesser, Newbold, Shilling, Taryn Mickley and Alicia Humphrey – the infielders surrounding Gronberg – and he asked them a question.
“I asked the defense if they had her back,” Duncan recalled. “And they all said, ‘Heck yes.’
“And then I said, ‘Once Grace gets this out, don’t let her leave this mound. We’re gonna celebrate right here.’ And that’s what she did.”
FCA’s five-hole batter recorded an infield single moments later, scoring a runner from third and narrowing the margin to 7-4. But Gronberg kept her composure. She struck out the game’s final batter – leaving runners stranded on all bases – and the celebration was on.
Weckesser, the team’s starting catcher, threw the ball down and charged toward the circle, where Gronberg stood with a mile-wide smile. She leapt into the pitcher’s arms, eventually sending both crashing into the dirt, where they were surrounded by teammates – all hugging and laughing and shouting with joy.
Seven in a row. It sure didn’t seem old to the girls in blue and white.
“It just felt amazing,” Gronberg, a sophomore, said afterwards. “It felt really good to feel like the crowd and the dugout cheering, and everybody cheering.”
The Blue Devils received medals and a trophy from their athletic director, Robert Miller, in the moments following the final pitch. And then their focus turned to Wednesday.
Danville will face Portsmouth Notre Dame, the state’s seventh-ranked Division IV team, in a regional semifinal matchup today at Pickerington Central High School at 2 p.m. The winner will face the winner of Russia (the state’s top-ranked team) vs. South Webster in the regional final on Saturday.
Danville, for all its district success, has won just two regional titles – once in 2008 and once in 2017. The Blue Devils fell to Newark Catholic in a heartbreaker last year in the regional semifinals.
Duncan said his team will be ready Wednesday. He said the Blue Devils will have to lean on their trademark resiliency – which was on full display Saturday, when the chips were down and they found a way to get it done, yet again.
“They’re battle-tested,” Duncan said. “I mean, our schedule’s brutal. As you can tell, just by the KMAC, we’re all here. We go through a gauntlet. And that gets us ready for these moments like that.
“We (tip our hat) to our opponents because they get us ready for here.”
