“She’s the first one at every practice by at least a half hour, if not 45 minutes. She’s the last one out the door. She’s the first one to jump in and help set up and do whatever needs to be done. The girls really respect her. I love her.”
Combs tied the school record in career doubles, freshman pitcher Paige Baker had 11 strikeouts and the Rams secured the Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division title outright with an 8-1 victory over the visiting Franklin Wildcats on Friday night.
Combs is the lone senior on a Ross squad that consists of one junior, six sophomores and six freshmen. But the Rams have played like a group of seasoned veterans throughout their entire first season in the SWBL.
“If I’m honest, it feels pretty damn good,” Luckett said. “It really does. I think that’s what makes it more special is because they are so young, and hey, we’re going to do it now, so they get that taste of it. We’re not going to stop — just keep fighting is all you’ve got to do.”
Ross (13-8, 7-1 SWBL Southwestern) snapped a three-game losing streak. Prior to Friday night, the last time Ross beat Franklin was a 13-6 postseason victory in 2015.
Franklin (15-8, 5-3 SWBL Southwestern) has won 12 of its last 15 and the previous two meetings against Ross that included a 6-3 victory on Wednesday.
“It was the same mindset,” Wildcats coach Jim Miller said of the rematch. “We always come ready to play. We knew we had to play well enough to win because we had to play well to win earlier in the week. We didn’t play as well as we did earlier in the week.
“They’re a good team. They’re a solid team all the way around. Well coached, great pitcher, great catcher. They put the ball in play, and they just beat us. It just didn’t work out today.”
Luckett said she was concerned with her Rams’ recent slow starts, and Friday night panned out the same way.
Franklin got the scoring started with a Harlee Lamb RBI double in the top of the first, but Emilee Peters responded with an RBI double of her own to tie it up in the bottom half.
The Rams proceeded to score eight straight.
Baker had nine strikeouts in the first four innings, and Ross scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-1 lead that was highlighted by Joslyn Crowley’s two RBI single.
“Before this game, we’ve had a couple losses, and I feel like we’ve worked extra hard in the hitting room getting our mind right,” Baker said. “We also had some motivation. We have a past with this team, and words were said, and now we have a little boost to get us going.
“I was getting in the right mindset in warmup all day today. I was kind of locked in on my game. Even at school, I was all focused. When we were warming up, I was just doing my best, I guess.”
Kam Commins singled and later scored on an Aurora Wallace ground out to extend the Ross lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth.
The next inning, Crowley had a bunt single and scored on a Juilianna Combs bunt single. Myrissa Combs then clubbed her 40th double to send her sister across the plate, tying 2021 graduate Ashley Shelton for most career doubles.
“That was incredible, considering I’ve been struggling for the past couple of days,” Myrissa Combs said. “It feels great, especially because I played with the player who holds the record right now. It’s just something incredible.
“It really gets us going. It keeps the hype going. It keeps us excited and not coming out flat. It keeps us positive that we can do it.”
Crowley (2 for 4, two RBI, run), Commins (2 for 4, run) and Baker (2 for 4, run) paced the Rams at the plate.
Franklin’s Tatum Riddiough pitched four innings, gave up five earned runs and struck out three before Susan Gray came in the final two innings. Meredith Zehring went 2 for 3 with a run scored to lead the Falcons offensively.
“I always tell the kids to give ourselves a chance,” Miller said. “We don’t harp about this being the most important game. We don’t do that. We just tell them to give themselves an opportunity at the end of the year to be in the race, and they did.”
Luckett said the Rams were able to use a 12-6 loss to Talawanda on Thursday as motivation. They gave up an eight-run second inning to the Brave, which didn’t sit well with the third-year coach.
UP NEXT
Ross hosts Edgewood in the first round of the Division I tournament at 5 p.m. on Monday.
Franklin finishes its regular season at Madison at 11 a.m. on Saturday before hosting Alter in the first round of the Division II postseason tournament at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
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