NORTH VERNON — Fate wasn’t exactly kind to New Albany, but at least it made a decision.

While tournament host Jennings County found all the offense it would need in the sixth inning to end the Bulldogs’ season with a 1-0 victory on Thursday, the weather gave two other local teams a reprieve for yet another day. The second semifinal of the Class 4A Jennings County Sectional between Jeffersonville and Floyd Central — originally set for Wednesday — was rained out in the third inning and will be completed this evening at 5:30.

The sky was overcast while New Albany pitcher Faith Griffaw and Panther ace McKensie Vanosdol dueled into the evening, but the rain finally began to fall just before the Highlanders and Red Devils took the field for warmups.

After a delay of nearly an hour to prepare the field after a brief downpour, the game got underway. The weather held steady for much of the opening two innings, but rain returned in the top half of the third.

At the time the game was called, the score was still tied 0-0 with Floyd up to bat.

The cancellation also affected the final, which will pit Jennings County against either Floyd or Jeff. Originally set for Friday, the sectional championship will be decided at 7 p.m. on Saturday.



New Albany-Jennings County

Griffaw saved one of her best for last, but it still wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs to take down the hosts and advance to the final.

Instead, it turned into the last act of a snake-bitten season for the New Albany ace. She missed the majority of the campaign with an injury and sat on the sidelines as sophomore Brittany Kaiser stepped in to lead the Bulldogs to most of their 20 wins. But Griffaw returned stronger than ever in time for the postseason, where she pitched her team past Bedford North Lawrence on Tuesday.

This time, Griffaw shut down a potent Jennings County lineup for five full innings, holding the Panthers to just two hits and striking out five entering the bottom of the sixth.

“Faith pitched an excellent game,” said New Albany coach Steve Belden. “She’s only been really pitching for a week, and she has gotten sharper and sharper. The pitch that they hit for a triple was a pitch we wanted them to hit. Faith was excellent the whole way.”

Jenny Royse led off the Panthers’ half of the sixth inning and made the most of the opportunity. She smacked an offering from Griffaw deep into right center field, where it rolled to the wall and allowed her to take third base for the only extra-base hit of the game.

From there, it was easy for Jennings to break the stalemate. Vanosdol hit a drive down the first-base line that was caught for the first out, but was plenty long for Royse to scamper home. Griffaw then got Caitlin Barlow to fly out and Amber Lozier to ground out to shortstop Mady Baumann, although the damage was done.

“They got the big hit,” Belden said. “That one extra-base hit was the difference.”

In many ways, New Albany and Jennings are mirror images, and the game was similar to the first meeting between the teams, a 3-2 New Albany victory in the Hoosier Hills Conference tournament. That game, however, was marked by errors that allowed for the extra offense – though the margin of victory stayed the same – while this one was a cleaner affair with just a single error committed by the Panthers.

New Albany (20-4) nearly matched Jennings’ score in the top of the seventh. While Griffaw’s third-inning single had been the Bulldogs’ entire offensive output against Vanosdol to that point, lead-off hitter Baumann singled to right. The next batter, Sydney Brown, caught a bad break when she popped a bunt into the air and Jennings third baseman Olivia Jarrell dove in to catch it for the first out.

That brought up Kaiser, who ripped a single to put runners on first and second with one out, but Alyssa Knable jumped on the first pitch from Vanosdol and flew out to right field.

With two down, the season appeared to come down to senior Shelby Elzy, but Belden elected to bring in pinch hitter Molly Waters. The freshman fell behind 0-2, took a ball and then struck out swinging to end the potential rally and put New Albany’s sectional run to an end.

“Shelby has been hitting the ball well, but it seemed like (Vanosdol) had her number today,” Belden said. “We were looking for someone to drive the ball and Molly was the player we thought could do it.”

With a young roster — the Bulldogs lose just four seniors in Griffaw, University of Louisville-bound Chelsea Jordan, Elzy and Kristen Ramsey — Belden thinks the loss could be a building block for the future.

“This was a good learning experience,” he said. “The seniors took this very hard and the other players got to see that. They understand the seniors put a lot of effort into this and worked very hard. They’ve set a good example.”



CLASS 4A JENNINGS COUNTY SECTIONAL

SEMIFINAL

NEW ALBANY 000 000 0—0 3 0

JENNINGS CO 000 000 x—1 4 1

W – Vanosdol. L – Griffaw (5-1). 3B – Royse (J).

Records – New Albany 20-4, Jennings County 16-6.