LEBANON — The Crawfordsville offense has been a constant for them all season despite the Athenians only winning two games. Heading into the Class 3A Sectional 25 at Lebanon against the host Tigers, Crawfordsville thought that’s what they could count on to keep them in the game.
However Josie Hollingsworth, who Crawfordsville had not seen in the two prior meetings, had other plans as the senior threw a no-hitter as Lebanon defeated Crawfordsville 11-0 in five innings. The Athenians see their season end with a record of 2-26.
“She pitched very well tonight” Athenian coach Kevin Kellerman said on Hollingsworth’s performance. “We chased a few too many pitches out of the zone tonight and I did not expect to get no hit knowing how well we’ve been hitting the ball.”
Lebanon got in the scoring column early and often as they tallied two in the first and third innings, three in the fourth and four in the fifth. Hollingsworth also did damage at the plate hitting home run and driving in three total runs. Kylie Ottinger drove in four runs in the Tiger win.
Despite what the scoreboard may say, Kellerman thought his team still played fairly well but the game came down to just a few plays that his team failed to make.
“Kaylie Miller pitched the best game we’ve seen from her all season even though the scoreboard may not show it. She was hitting locations and was fully engaged on the mound. Four of the five innings in which they scored, we could’ve made a play to prevent them from scoring.”
Even though the record does not show it, the improvement that the Athenians made were huge strides from the beginning of the season to the end is what Kellerman is most proud of.
“It’s a night and day difference,” he said. “We’ve come so far this year and our fans and everyone else see the difference. That big inning is what plagued us so often this year and if we can get that corrected moving forward, we’ll be in good shape. This group has stayed together the entire season and have supported one another through everything and that’s what I’m going to take away.”
Crawfordsville will graduate three seniors in Allyson Barton, Alexus McCaskill and Miller. All three have made a huge impact on the program and have helped Kellerman guide the team throughout the difficult season that was for the Athenians.
“We’re going to miss them,” Kellerman said of his three seniors. “They played so well and became leaders and did what seniors are supposed to do. As the season was winding down you could see they became more vocal with everyone in a positive way. Saying goodbye to all three of them was hard to do tonight because they’re all awesome in their own way.”
