Trojanettes claim Corner title outright

 ESSEX — There’s no disputing it now. The Essex Trojanettes are the champions of Corner Conference softball.

Essex (14-6 overall, 9-1 conference) clinched the conference title outright Friday night with their 13-0 win against the East Mills Wolverines at home on senior night.

“It’s a good way to end my senior year,” Essex pitcher Sara Skalberg said. “Especially since softball is our favorite sport. It’s a good win.”

The Trojanettes clinched the game in the bottom of the third when Ausha Gay hit a two-run home run with an 11-0 lead on the scoreboard to get the win via the mercy rule.

“We wanted to get three innings over with, get that shutout,” Skalberg said.

The Trojanettes got hot early, scoring seven runs in the first inning. Daiton Martin led off the game with a triple and scored thanks to an RBI ground out by Kym Graham.

After Bethany Johnson got on base, Gay knocked her in with an RBI single. Skalberg and Jescenia Mosley both got on and the bases were loaded when Amber Ohnmacht knocked in a run on a single.

Peyton Brammer blew the game wide open with a three-run double to put Essex ahead 6-0. Martin knocked in the final run on an RBI double.

Essex tacked onto that in the second inning as they scored four more runs to make it 11-0.

The run cushion was enough for Skalberg, who pitched all three innings for Essex and didn’t allow a single hit.

“This week was our busiest week,” Skalberg said.

Indeed, no softball pitcher had a busier week for her team than Skalberg.

The senior pitched in all five conference games for the week, including back-to-back doubleheaders against Stanton and Fremont-Mills, last Monday and Tuesday.  Essex first swept Stanton last Monday 21-6 and 15-4. They followed up last Tuesday with a 10-8 and 16-10 victories over Fremont-Mills. The four wins were important as it took Essex from a half game behind second place to being all alone in first.

“If I knew the outcome, I’d rather do it the other way, but you never know,” Essex softball coach Pat Perkins said. “I know this team can hit well.”

Perkins is in his first season as head coach. He remembers all too well how it went the last time Essex was in contention for a conference title in softball. 

In 2013, Essex (then-under Denny Redel) lost to Villisca and was forced to split the conference title with Stanton.

“I thought I was done with the nervousness, because I always was when (his daughter) Seana was playing,” Perkins said. “Now as a coach again, it becomes more important. I get nervous the whole day before the game.”

The sweeps of Stanton and Fremont-Mills helped set up Essex for the chance at the conference title.

“I always knew we had a chance, but to really do it, and this week was huge, it was all this week,” Perkins said. “I didn’t know if we would be .500.”

Against Stanton, the offense exploded. Led by Skalberg’s three home runs (two in the first game and one in the second), the Trojanettes kept Stanton from getting back in the game. Gay and Jescenia Mosley both had home runs in the second game.

With Stanton out of the way, Essex needed to get the sweep of Fremont-Mills if they were going to take over the conference lead.

Game one went back and forth, but it was the Trojanettes scoring three runs in the sixth that helped them take the first game and ultimately tie the two teams in the conference race.

Essex entered the inning trailing 8-7, when Bethany Johnson, tied the game on an RBI double that scored Martin. Gay followed up with a RBI double to give the Trojanettes the lead. Skalberg helped send Gay home with another RBI hit.

From there, Skalberg retired the final six Fremont-Mills batters.

“There was so much adrenaline, so much lead changes, I just know I had to go out there and throw my best,” Skalberg said.

The Trojanettes received a big boost early on in game two when Mosley hit her second home run of the season, a grand slam, in the first inning. The Trojanettes held a 4-0 lead for more than an inning.

It wasn’t until the third when Fremont-Mills rallied back with two outs to score six runs and take a 6-4 lead.

The Knights added another run in the top of the fourth and their lead became 7-4.

Essex rallied back with four runs in the bottom half of the fourth to take an 8-4 lead. 

Ohnmacht led off with the single and scored later on a RBI-hit by Kelsi Leininger. Martin soon got on base and with one out, Graham hit a two-RBI double to tie the game. Johnson added a RBI base hit and the lead was back for the Trojanettes.

Fremont-Mills responded with three more runs in the top of the fifth. It would be the last time they scored in the game as Essex scored four each in the fifth and sixth to put the game away.

In the bottom of the fifth, Leininger knocked in the first run on an RBI ground out. 

A couple batters later, Graham knocked in Martin on an RBI-hit. Johnson and Gay followed that with back-to-back RBI doubles and the lead was Essex’s again.

Gay had another two-RBI hit in the sixth inning, which proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Fremont-Mills.

Essex clinched at least a share of the conference title Thursday night when they defeated Sidney 13-1.

The Trojanettes scored 11 of their 13 runs in the first two innings as they avenged an early season loss to the Cowgirls. Martin, Johnson and Gay each led with two hits.

While Essex was happy to clinch at least a share, they wouldn’t have accomplished their goal if it wasn’t an outright title.

“That’s all they’ve talked about,” Perkins said. “It was nice to clinch the tie, but what they really wanted was the outright title.”

The Trojanettes went into the season with a chip on their shoulder. 

Some of the media around the area had picked Fremont-Mills as the favorite to win the conference title.

“They knew we were a good team, but the sports [media] around here didn’t expect us to win the conference championship,” Perkins said.

This season, the rally cry has been “Less Than Zero,” which was how a KMA sports broadcaster described Essex’s chances of winning the Corner Conference.

“That gave us the drive to go out and beat everybody,” Skalberg said. “It was all a roller coaster of emotions and it was good to get that conference title.”

Perkins said the odds being against them served as a great motivator.

“It takes some pressure off too,” he said. “If you’re expected to win and you don’t, that’s a lot tougher situation.”

One goal remains for the Trojanettes. For the past couple of seasons, they’ve advanced as far as the semifinals during regionals, losing both times to Exira-EHK. 

They’d like to reach the semifinals again this year, but they also have aspirations of climbing higher than before.

“We just have to play our best in regionals,” Skalberg said.

Essex also played non-conference games during the week. They lost last Wednesday 12-3 to Murray, but defeated Shenandoah 19-18 Saturday night.

Essex had 25 hits during the win, including home runs by both Skalberg and Mosley.

The Trojanettes will be home again Tuesday when they host Griswold in a rematch from the Red Oak Tournament May 30. 

Essex won that tournament when they defeated Griswold 7-6.

They play Wednesday in the Mount Ayr tournament to wrap up the regular season.