LaGRANGE TWP. — The slipper finally splintered.

In what has been an amazing romp through the LaGrange Division II District, Buckeye’s softball team finally saw its season come to a close against a familiar face.

Playing from behind from the jump, the Bucks couldn’t find enough against Keystone on Friday in a 6-0 defeat.

“It was fun,” Buckeye coach Howie Calame Jr. said. “We finally put it together.

“We have eight seniors, but our younger girls were watching. They saw what is needed to take charge.”

It was the Wildcats (25-5) taking charge in the beginning of the third meeting this season between the two as Keystone scored a run in the first and second and two in the third, touching up Buckeye’s Danielle Sims (7-7) for her first earned runs of the playoffs.

Some of that had to do with the attack style of offense and some of it had to do with experience.

The Bucks (11-15) were making their second appearance this decade in the district final. Keystone has been to the Sweet 16 in 21 of the last 22 seasons.

“I tried to tell them that the pressure was on Keystone because we weren’t supposed to be here,” Calame said. “It was play your own game, but then they realized, ‘Wow, this is a big game.

“They tensed up a bit and fell to the Keystone mystique — whatever that is.”

The Wildcats, who play either Hebron Lakewood or Canal Winchester in regional action next week, certainly took advantage of their been-there-done-that attitude.

Taylor Kissinger put the squad on the board with a two-out RBI single in the first and Alexis Sanislow hit her first career home run in the second as Keystone came out firing right away.

“We’re never satisfied,” Sanislow said. “It’s never enough to just win the conference and district.

“We’re looking at the big show in Akron (the state finals). Every game we play is a state championship game. Buckeye’s confidence was high. We needed to win every inning we could.”

Keystone did exactly that, scoring runs in every inning but the fourth and sixth. And when the Bucks started booting the ball around — they had three errors — the Wildcats made sure to take advantage, touching up Sims for two unearned runs.

With the four-run advantage in tow, the 11-time state semifinalists began turning their attention to the next level.

“I don’t care what they’re doing before the game as long as they make sure their heads are on straight before the game,” Keystone coach Jim Piazza said. “I’m feeling pretty comfortable if they’re laughing and singing before things start.

“The first thing we talked about was meeting our first goal and our first goal was to go one, two, three in the first and score a run. We did that. When we scored that second run, you could see their energy drop and we said, ‘Let’s go.’”

Go the Wildcats did behind Caitlyn Minney (10-2) and Bee Shaw. The tandem combined to give up just three hits — all off Minney — and didn’t issue a walk.

With the game in hand, the duo showed their dominance, sending down 11 of the final 12 batters and the last nine in order.

“The confidence we have is one of our biggest strengths,” Minney said. “We have what it takes to keep the tradition going.”

Contact Brad Bournival at sports@medina-gazette.com.

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