St. Charles West's Turnaround Season Ends With Loss to Centralia

There were no tears from members of the St. Charles West softball team on Saturday night, only pride and joy for a memorable season.     

The Warriors were overwhelmed by powerful Centralia 11-0 in a Class 3 quarterfinal contest at the Lou Brock Sports Complex on the Lindenwood University campus.     

But the West players, who put together an amazing post-season run, left the field with their collective heads held high.     

"I'm glad to call this my senior year," said West pitcher Brooke Camenzind. "We've come so far and we're really proud of ourselves."     

With good reason. West came from out of nowhere to reach the Elite Eight after dropping 18 of 24 regular season games.     

The Warriors (11-18) fashioned one of the biggest turnarounds in school history. The impressive streak ended with a thud on Saturday. But it hardly mattered. This team thoroughly enjoyed its four-game post-season run, an about-face that saw West outscore its opponents 47-16 in rolling to regional and sectional championships.    

"Once they get over the disappointment of this loss, they will realize what they've accomplished this season," said West coach Ellen Parker.    

West struggled out to a 1-7 start and stood at 2-11 at the midway point of the campaign.    

"We were all ready to pack it in," said Parker. "It was not pretty."    

Somehow, the Warriors dug themselves out of the morass to record one post-season upset after another.    

The magic carpet ride finally came to an end against Centralia (26-2), which sports one of the best squads in the state.    

The Panthers scored nine times in the opening inning to take command. The contest was stopped after six innings by the mercy rule.    

Centralia "was the best team we've played all year," Camenzind said.

"They are an excellent hitting team and that's the best pitcher we've faced all season long," said Parker.    

It appeared as though the Panthers were playing a different level. They pounded out eight hits and stole seven bases in the first-run uprising. St. CharlesWest committed a pair of costly errors as 11 successive hitters reached base safely in the 24-minute frame.    

Sydney Creel, Morgan Creel, Kaitlyn Van Maanen and Haley Schmersahl had the key blows. Schmersahl's two-run triple pushed the lead to 7-0. Sydney Creel had two hits during the uprising.    

St. Charles West settled down and played well the rest of the game, but the early damage was too much to overcome.    

"We had two or three errors in the first inning at the wrong times," said Parker. "Once we played through the nerves, we were OK in those later innings. It should have been a 2-0 or 3-0 ballgame."   

Centralia sophomore pitcher Baylee Douglass dominated in the circle. The soft-tossing right-hander struck out 14 and gave up just three hits.    

"I was really confident, especially when our offense put up nine runs," said Douglass. "I was really comfortable out there."    

The nine-run uprising was nothing new for the Panthers, who have excelled in the first inning all season long.     

"It's kind of our signature, we have to score in the first inning," said Centralia coach Jill Angell. "We just got several hits strung together and scored several runs.

The Warriors did not quit. They put runners on in five of the six innings but could not come up with the timely hit. Sophomore catcher Brianna Barry doubled in the third and senior Shannon McNamee followed with a single to put runners on the corners with two out. But Douglass battled back to strike out Ellie Ottensmeyer and end the threat.     

Senior Sarah Lindsie Heifner had the other West hit.     

Parker and the West seniors took a little extra time after the contest to reflect on a strange yet extremely gratifying campaign.    

"For them to turn it around like they did, that's something to be proud of," said Parker.    

Centralia advances to the state tournament to face Westminster Christian Academy (19-6) in a state semifinal on Friday in Springfield.