Story by Wyatt Ebersole

It took six hours and an unbelievable amount of grit and hardwork, but the Butler Softball team pulled off a dramatic sweep of the Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen on Saturday to win the Plains District Championship for the eight consecutive year and advance to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament. The Grizzlies surged back late in game one with a three-run seventh inning to clinch the series opener 10-9. They followed that with one of the most dramatic games of the season ending in a Grizzly victory, 14-13 in eight innings. The wins for the Grizzlies improve them to 45-10 on the season. Northeastern ends the year with a record of 38-14.

Game One

Northeastern struck first in the first inning of game one with a two-run homer to left field giving them an early 2-0 lead. The Grizzlies got runners in scoring position in both the first and second inning but could not bring them around to score. After loading the bases in the third, the Grizzlies found four runs in the inning to take the lead. Ryanna Valdivia hit a two-RBI single to left and then Cady Dickey came in to score on an error, and Valdivia came in to score later, on a different error to give the Grizzlies a 4-2 lead after three. Northeastern hit a solo home run in the fourth to cut the deficit to one, but Kendyl Anderson hit a pinch-hit RBI groundout to bring Aly Hageman around from second in the bottom half to push the Grizzlies back up by two. The Grizzlies brought two more runners' home in the fifth, one on an RBI single by Reece Briggs, and the other on an RBI single from Hageman. The Plainswomen weren't going anywhere however, as a three-run homer in the sixth brought them back within one, and then a stunning three-run homer in the seventh pulled the Plainswomen in front 9-7 and had them looking to pull off the huge game one upset. Cady Dickey was having none of it, as she stepped up to the plate and crushed a two-run homer to left-center field to tie the game up at nine. In the next at-bat Reece Briggs reached on an error and was pinch-ran for by Mallory Young. The pinch-run move proved crucial as the speedy Young advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then became the game winning run as she scored from second on a walk-off RBI double by Amayiah Hall that gave the Grizzlies the 10-9 win and a 1-0 series lead.

Game Two

As usual in the Plains District Championship, the teams flipped home and away for game two, meaning the Grizzlies batted first.

The Grizzlies scored first in game two, behind back-to-back two-out double from Valdivia and Woods that gave the Grizzlies a quick 1-0 lead in game two. Northeastern had a quick answer, as a leadoff double came around to score and knotted the game up 1-1 through the first inning. Northeastern built on that momentum as they would take a disheartening 5-1 lead after a grand slam by Ayva McCommas in the second inning. The Grizzlies went scoreless in the third and the game started to feel like it might be slipping away a bit, but the Grizzlies put their caps on and rallied back. In the fourth, Brianna Acosta doubled to left to bring Hageman in and cut the deficit down to three runs. After reliever Lena Walter set the Plainswomen down in the bottom half, the Grizzlies stormed back in the fifth, as Ryanna Valdivia smashed a ball over the fence in center for a two-run homer, and then Dickey delivered again, as she hit a solo homer to center that tied the game up 5-5 after five innings. Northeastern would find a response in their half, as a run scored on an error to put them back up 6-5. In the sixth, Hageman came through big time as she lifted the first pitch of the inning deep over the wall in right-center for a home run, just her third of the year. The Grizzlies then managed to load the bases and Woods brought a runner home with an RBI single, and then Briggs drew a walk with the bases still loaded to put the Grizzlies in front 8-6. Northeastern would find answers again, plating four runs in their half of the sixth to retake the lead 10-8, and now the Grizzlies had to come up with two runs in the seventh or the game was over. Briona Woods answered the call for help, as she absolutely demolished a softball, blasting it over the wall in left field for a grand slam that turned the game on its head and gave the Grizzlies a 12-10 lead. Despite this, Northeastern scraped together two runs in the bottom of the seventh to save their season and send the game to extras tied 12-12. 

This late in the season, it's often that teams need to find some unsung heroes to make magic happen. In the eighth inning of the Plains District Championship, the Grizzlies found that in outfielder Mallory Young who scored the winning run in game one, was now playing in right field due to an injury to Amayiah Hall. Young made the most of her moment as she smashed a no-doubt, two-run homer to centerfield to give the Grizzlies a 14-12 lead, a lead which they wouldn't relinquish. The Plainswomen threatened to tie it up in the eighth, scoring a run to make it 14-13, but Emma Koeneke emphatically slammed the door, striking out McCommas to send the Grizzlies to the national tournament. 

With the championship win, the Grizzlies advance to the national tournament and will play on May 23rd and will play against a to-be-determined opponent.

NOTES: Butler Softball is now 18-1 all-time in Plains District Championship games and have won 15 straight games...This is the eighth straight district title won by the Grizzlies...Butler Softball is the third Butler team to advance to a national tournament this year, joining women's soccer and men's basketball...The 27 combined runs scored in game two are the most runs scored in a Plains District Championship game, breaking the previous high of 25 set in 2021 when Butler and Trinidad State combined for 25 runs in the Grizzlies 21-4 win...