Lincoln Junior High School Trojans win Softball Regional Championship

[September 13, 2018]  The Lincoln Junior High School Trojans Softball Team had a pretty monumental task in front of them Wednesday afternoon in the Class AA Regional 10 Championship at Williamsville but they rose to the occasion.

Behind an outstanding pitching performance from Cara Farnam and a phenomenal display of hitting and base running by Riley Tungate AND an overall solid defensive effort by the entire team on the field, the Trojans ended the Bee Bees season with a 3-1 victory and earned the Regional Championship Plaque.

The task was monumental not only because the Bee Bees boast a storied history of state tournament appearances and state championships, but also because back on August 1sixth the Bee Bees stung the Trojans with an 11-0 regular season loss.

Two key eighth graders in the Trojan lineup never forgot that loss, nor did they forget what happened their sixth grade year. For them, history did repeat itself and they are perfectly fine with the outcome.

For eighth grader Cara Farnam, who has pitched in nearly every Trojan game this season, she remembers what happened two years ago vividly. "It's kinda like deja vu because the first year they beat us in the regular season and then when we played them in regionals we beat them. So, I mean, I feel ecstatic about it because I would have never thought this at the beginning of the season."

So what was Farnam's mindset the morning of this important and possibly season-ending game day?

"When I got up this morning I actually was late to the bus," laughed the ace of the Trojan pitching staff. "So when I got up this morning, I was thinking I was ready to lose, I think. But inside I was like, "If we really all come with our 'A game' then we'll be able to win today."

The 'A team' showed up.

Fellow eighth grader Riley Tungate, has a similar recollection of the past and she came to play on Wednesday afternoon. "Considering that we lost by a lot to them during the regular season, that made us pumped up and wanting to beat them even more. And during the sixth grade season we did the same thing, where we lost to them really badly in the regular season and then we came back to beat them in the regionals."

It was Tungate who got things started for the Trojans on Wednesday afternoon at Jane Grebner Field. Her lead-off single in the top of the first inning was about to spell trouble for the Bee Bees. After Alex Eads put the ball in play, a bad throw by the Bee Bees allowed Tungate to race to third.

Adi Rumler's groundout to second scored Tungate with the first run of the game and just like that the Bee Bees were shocked as Lincoln was up early 1-0.

Farnam worked quickly in the bottom of the first inning by striking out the first two batters and then getting the three spot to ground out.

A scoreless second inning was highlighted by Farnam striking out the side.

In the top of the third inning, Farnam grounded out to the pitcher for the Trojans first out. But it was Tungate following up with a triple to right field. Having this girl on base again shook up the Bee Bees. Just a pitch or two into the count, a wild pitch scored Tungate from third. She has great speed, and the play was close, but her perfect slide under the catcher's mitt was in time and Lincoln was up 2-0.

The bottom of the third inning was where the only mishap occurred for the Trojans. Farnam missed a pop-up that was just off her glove as she raced towards the first base line to catch it. The Bee Bees runner saw that no one was covering second base so she raced to second during the ruckus that ensued.

The melee wasn't over yet. An overthrow to second base allowed the runner to race all the way around third and eventually home, while the ball was still being retrieved in centerfield.

Farnam quickly settled down after this though and induced a pop-up that was caught at first base and then a strikeout. A two-out single by Williamsville also didn't seem to phase the pitcher. Farnam was confident in the circle and the next batter grounded out with ease. Lincoln escaped with a 2-1 lead heading into the top of the fourth inning.

The fourth inning was quick for both teams. Lincoln went down in order with two groundouts and a strikeout and Williamsville's offense was equally as frustrating in the inning with a flyout and two strikeouts.

Malena Kirgan got the offense going to Lincoln in the top of the fifth inning. She plopped a single into right field and Lincoln was on the base path with a scoring threat. Kirgan reached second on a dropped third strike by the Bee Bees catcher. With Farnam batting, a passed ball allowed Kirgan to race to third.

On the next pitch, Farnam ripped an RBI single to score Kirgan. Lincoln's lead was now 3-1 over Williamsville.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Lincoln Junior High School Trojans Softball Team traveled to Williamsville to take on the Bee Bees for the Class AA Regional 10 Championship. The Trojans put in a top performance winning 3-1 to claim the fame.

- photos by Teena Lowery

Tungate was up to bat next and she torched a fly ball to centerfield that was caught by the Bee Bees outfielder. Nice contact by Tungate though. A groundout by Lincoln would end their half of the fifth inning with Farnam stranded on second.

Lincoln found themselves in a tiny jam in the bottom of the fifth inning. Following a strikeout to the first batter of the inning, the next Bee Bee reached on an error and then another Bee Bee hit a line drive single to centerfield. On the throw back into the infield, the runners advanced to second and third with only one out. Farnam then fielded a ground ball hit by the next batter and she wisely looked the runner back to third. But on the throw over to first, the runners of course took off and it was Kirgan tagging a base-runner out between second and third base, before the other runner scored at home; very quick and smart double play by the Trojans infield to escape serious damage. The 3-1 lead was preserved and as the Trojans gathered by the dugout with their coaches, there was lots of exhaling on the part of the LJHS fans. Nice play.

In the top of the sixth inning Lincoln threatened to score but Williamsville showed heads-up softball and got their own double play. With one out and Rumler on first, Chloe Johnston hit a pop-up to the first baseman and the Bee Bees second baseman quickly covered first to double-up Rumler.

The bottom of the sixth inning was outstanding for the Lincoln defense. Farnam fielded a grounder for the first out. A great catch in right field by Taryn Stoltzenburg was not just the second out but it saved A LOT of trouble for Lincoln. The ball was tattooed by the Bee Bees hitter and Stoltzenburg got a beat on it and snagged it perfectly. Johnston caught the next pop-up and Lincoln was looking good. Real good.

In the top of the seventh inning, Kirgan reached on an error but any chance of scoring was squashed by the Bee Bees here.

So to the bottom of the seventh inning and the near-bottom of the Bee Bees lineup we go. A nice position to be in for a pitcher. With the six, seven and eight hitters due up, Farnam was in the driver's seat. The first ball was a grounder to second and it went Kirgan to Johnston for the out.

Farnam worked the next batter for a strikeout ~ number 10 in the books. And fittingly, the last pitch of the game was hit back to Farnam and she fielded it quickly and tossed it carefully to Johnston at first base.

A regional championship was clinched with the 3-1 victory by Lincoln.

So two out of three regional championships for this eighth grade class, well, that's pretty impressive.

Equally impressive was just the way they went about their business on Wednesday afternoon. With the exception of the one little mishap that led to the only run scored by Williamsville, the rest of the game was near perfection. The girls kept their composure and with Farnam firing on all cylinders from the circle, the Trojans made their first-year head coach, Emily Kohl, proud.

"This is the best team that I've ever seen play softball today. Right here," said Kohl. "This is the team that I wanted all season and it's just taken this long. But it's worth it. This is where it counts."

Truer words have never been spoken.

The final pitching stats for Farnam consisted of one unearned run, two hits and ten strikeouts as she earned the win.

The hitting stats for Lincoln are as follows:

Tungate was 2-for-3 at the plate and scored two runs.

Farnam was 1-for-3 at the plate with an RBI.

Kirgan was 1-for-3 and scored a run.

Rumler had an RBI groundout.

Stoltzenburg had a potentially game-saving catch in right field that is worth mentioning again as the Trojans improve their record to 19-6 on the season and carry the regional championship plaque back to LJHS.

LJHS advances to the Stanford Olympia Sectional this Saturday to play Bloomington Corpus Christi at 11 a.m.

Congratulations to the LJHS Trojans!

[Teena Lowery]