Kenton Ridge Rallies from Six Runs Down to Win Second Straight OHSAA Division IV Softball State Title

AKRON, Ohio – Winning streaks, especially long ones, don’t happen by accident. They take hard work and players making plays in key moments.

And even when trailing by six runs in the third inning of the OHSAA Division IV softball state championship game on Saturday, the feeling around Firestone Stadium was still that Kenton Ridge’s streak would live on.

It did just that with a 7-6 comeback win over Licking Valley in which the Cougars not only won their second consecutive state title, but their 64th game in a row, the second-longest winning streak in OHSAA softball history.

It looked bleak early on when Licking Valley scored one on the second and five in the third to take a 6-0 lead. Well, it looked bleak if you were anyone not on the Kenton Ridge team or staff, anyway.

A Champion's Confidence

“Our fans (after the game said), ‘You scared us, you scared us,’ I said, I don't know why,” Kenton Ridge coach Sarah Schalnat said after the championship game. “I just believe in them, I believe in them all the time.”

The team made that belief pay off as they began chipping away at the Licking Valley lead.

It started in the third inning when catcher Brenna Fyffe led off with a walk and stole second base. She then scored on a double by Jayden “J.J.” Smith to get the first run on the board for the Cougars.

Rastatter Sparks the Rally

Up stepped Kenton Ridge pitcher Ivee Rastatter, who had given up six runs in the game to that point, including five in the top half of the inning. Getting a chance to walk to the plate in that inning was important for the sophomore.

“I just knew I had to refocus,” Rastatter said. “(There was) nothing I could change, and I had to do it for my team. I have to get something going, so I have to learn how to adjust, and then forget about it, because it's over with.”

She delivered with a two-run homer cut the lead to 6-3 and got the Kenton Ridge faithful rocking Firestone Stadium.

“It felt so good to start something for my team, get us going, get the energy moving,” Rastatter said. “It was really important energy wise.”

Annie Fincham finished the third with an RBI single and then Rastatter homered again in the fourth to bring the Cougars within one at 6-5.

The Sixth-Inning Breakthrough

Then came the bottom of the sixth inning with Kenton Ridge still trailing by a run, their chance a second straight state title and their winning streak on the line.

Nine-hole hitter Chloe Glass started the inning with a single and was followed by Lily Foulk, who was hit by a pitch. Up stepped Fyffe, who hit a deep fly ball to center to move both runners up a bag.

“I just know I needed to produce for my team,” Fyffe said. “Chloe and Lily got something started, and I was like, I need to keep something going. If it's moving them over or scoring them, I just had to keep it going.”

That set the stage for late game heroics, which were provided by Davis.

The Ohio State commit took a 2-1 pitch and dumped it into right field for a 2-run single to give the Cougars their first lead of the game at 7-6.

“Honestly, I just went up there and I knew I had a job to do,” Davis said. “I knew that this was going to happen. They're a good team, we're a good team, we're both undefeated, and I knew that I had to step up in that situation.”

Closing the Door

Rastatter then did what she had done since the end of the third inning – she went to the circle and got the job done, giving up just a two-out single in the inning before inducing a game-ending fly ball to Kendall Massie in center.

Over the last four innings, she allowed just three hits and one walk while holding Licking Valley scoreless as the Cougars were making the comeback. She said the only adjustment was that she went into the dugout to work on her spins because she getting the spin she wanted early in the game..

She also got some help defensively, as on one specific play with one out in the sixth, Licking Valley’s Abby Kochur hit a line drive that looked like it was headed to left center, but shortstop Annie Fincham got up as high as she could to make the catch.

“It just felt so good to make the play,” Fincham said. “I knew when it came to me that I was prepared, because we do a ton of that stuff at practice.”

Asked what the conversations were like with her battery-mate, Fyffe said they were of a positive nature.

“It's just like a, ‘I know you got this,’ ‘you can do it,’ ‘keep working,’” Fyffe said “Even if they we give a couple runs, we knew we could get it back, and just trusting Ivee, telling her, ‘just keep working, we got your back.’’

The comeback was reminiscent of a game earlier in the season when the streak looked to be in trouble against Wheelersburg, trailing 5-1 headed to the bottom of the seventh inning on March 28. But the team was up to the task that day as well.

Built for Moments Like This

“Going into that situation, we had 8-9-1 up, and at that time it was Kendall Glass in the eight-hole, and then Chloe Glass in the nine-hole, and then back to the same top that it is currently,” Schalnat said. “These girls produced, they got six runs with no outs, and we win 7-5. (Rastatter) hit a three-run homer in that inning to win it, so I believe in them.”

Once it was all over and the Cougars had the trophy in their possession for the second consecutive season, a conversation about the winning streak could be broached. It was something the players insist they had not though about.

“(The streak) is just major,” Davis said. “I think what helps us out as a lot is during the season we don't really think about that. We think about the little innings, and how we need to win every inning. And when we went into this game today, we just knew we had to play tough.”

Fyffe, along with Fincham, Massie and Cara Cammon, finish their Kenton Ridge career winning their final 64 games.

“It's just unreal to me,” said Fyffe, who will play at Ohio University next season. “Knowing that I'm here, playing with all my friends, I've gotten so close with them the past couple of years.”

Chasing History

The Cougars head into 2027 just four wins shy of the all-time Ohio win streak of 68 games, held by Portsmouth Clay from 1980-82.

“I think we just have to start tough,” Davis said. “We're going to have a lot of holes to fill with all of our seniors leaving, so I just think it's a matter of we have a great coach and she's going to push us to the limit, so I think we're ready for it.”

As Davis was being asked what they need to do to match and pass that streak, Fyffe chimed in with a “They will do it.”

And with their track record, who is to argue?

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