Oak Harbor wins 'battle royale' over Edison

OAK HARBOR — It was only the first inning, but Oak Harbor needed an answer. The Rockets had allowed three runs already, but three singles in the bottom half of the first loaded the bases for junior Emily Sommers. She had the answer, a line-drive double to left-center that drove home all three runners. "That's the game," Oak Harbor coach Chris Rawski said. "You don't answer there and let Kira (Appeman) settle in, you're in trouble." That Sommers double kept the game tied until the fifth, when Oak Harbor (9-6, 2-0 SBC Bay) scored twice more and held on for a 5-3 win over Edison (7-3, 0-1). Kent State-bound Reagan Schultz pitched followed first-inning struggles with six scoreless frames and went 3-for-4 at the plate. With the victory, the Rockets won the first matchup involving Bay contenders Oak Harbor, Edison and Margaretta this season, giving them a leg up in the division race. "That's just a tight, 5-3, battle royale right there," Rawski said. Edison struck first. Shortstop Reagan King continued her hot start to the season with a three-run home run, extending her hands on an outside pitch and driving the ball past the center field fence. She drove home Audrey Linder and Olivia Vitaz, who had both singled. "She's feeling it right now," Edison coach Troy Keegan said. "When someone's locked in in their swing, they've got a lot of confidence." "One of these years, we'll figure out how to get Reagan King out," Rawski added. "She's a heck of a hitter." The Rockets set up Sommers for the response, though. Schultz, who entered the day batting .524, hit the first pitch of the bottom half back up the middle for a single. Reese Adkins and Remi Gregory each singled, as well. That brought in Sommers, who said she was thinking, "green light, green light." She swung and missed at the first pitch before lacing the bases-clearing double to the gap. "It's the best feeling ever," Sommers said. "You just see that you did that, and I really don't have words for it. It's the best feeling in the world." The dueling aces settled in from there, with an Ashley Schiller diving, unassisted double play helping the Rockets' cause and a 9-4-6 relay out to second base making a difference for the Chargers as neither team scored in the second, third or fourth. "I was screaming (after Schiller's double play)," Sommers said. "I was tackling her. I was just so excited for her." Oak Harbor broke the deadlock in the fifth. Schultz led off with a single, then Adkins reached on an error that allowed Schultz to score the go-ahead run. Two batters later, senior Remi Gregory fell behind 0-2, fouled off two pitches and then doubled to the left-field fence to score Adkins for the game's final run. "Oak Harbor's always good," Keegan said. "We always seem to come out here and jump on top... They just keep fighting. They can hit." Schultz allowed one baserunner apiece in the sixth and the seventh, but she avoided further damage. "Reagan pitched a good game," Keegan said. "She didn't walk people, and when you don't walk people you've got a chance to win." The game's final out was a line drive ripped by Appeman, but directly at right fielder Sydney Overmyer, who reeled it in to set up some jumping around the Rockets' infield in celebration. On the one hand, it's still early in the league schedule. But on the other, Oak Harbor had its first chance to make a Bay Division statement and did just that. "Two wins with only 10 league games, you're a fifth of the way there," Rawski said. "Truthfully, with the good teams and where everybody stands, you can't afford a loss." Edison 300 000 0 — 3 6 3Oak Harbor 300 020 0 — 5 9 0 WP: Reagan Schultz. LP: Kira Appeman 2B: (E) Ivy Kluding; (OH) Remi Gregory, Emily Sommers. HR: (E) Reagan King