Blue Devils win state championship in extra-inning thriller

With five freshmen in the starting lineup, the 2026 season could have been considered a rebuilding year for the Danville softball team.

But the word rebuilding isn’t in the Blue Devils’ vocabulary, especially for a strong trio of seniors.

Addy Bocock, Ruby Bartok and Taylor Meade spent the early part of the season showing the underclassmen what it meant to be a Blue Devil and the group combined to cap off one of the most special seasons in Danville history with a Div. VI state championship. On Thursday at Akron’s Firestone Stadium, the Blue Devils got great pitching and defense, then got the timely hits needed to beat West Jefferson, 2-0, in nine innings to capture the school’s second state softball title and first since 2008.

“It’s unreal. I’m so darn proud of these girls and this community,” said Danville coach Charlie Duncan. “It starts in the off-season. People doubted us at the beginning of the year. We were really young. You could have called it a rebuilding year, but these girls weren’t going to have any part of that. It’s all about reloading and doing what we do.

“I’m so darn proud of each and every one of them, starting with the seniors all the way down to the freshmen stepping up, not acting like freshmen and doing great things.”

The first eight-plus innings of the championship game were dominated by pitching. Bocock and West Jeff’s Jenna Mannon battled it out with the offenses managing pretty much just one threat each.

The Devils’ best threat came in the first inning when they got runners on second and third with two outs after a hit by freshman Morgan Hinkens. But Mannon, a University of Missouri signee, coaxed a groundout and the threat was gone.

The Rough Riders’ came in the bottom of the seventh and gave themselves a chance to walk off with the title. After Mannon doubled, she advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. She tried to end the game herself, but that’s when Hinkens came through with the first of her two huge plays on the day.

Mannon tried to steal home on the first pitch, but it was fouled off by Hailey McBrayer. The Devils were ready for the next attempt, and after catching a strike, Hinkens raced out from behind the plate and tagged out Mannon to send the game to extra innings.

“The pitch before, the girl fouled it off and I saw her just going for it. So, I kind of knew she was trying to steal. It’s crazy to straight steal home, but she’s a very fast runner, obviously, but Morgan got it done,” said Bocock.

“I just saw her running at me. I was like, ‘oh, I’m just going to tag her,’” Hinkens said, like it was just a normal play.

After both teams went down quickly in the eighth, the Devils won it in the top of the ninth with Hinkens’ second not so run-of-the-mill play.

With one out, Bartok was hit by a pitch. Then, on the third pitch she faced, Hinkens belted a line drive to left-center field, smacking the top of the fence and scoring Bartok on a triple.

“I was just trying to get the ball in play because I knew we had a runner on base and I just wanted to score her, trying to get that run in,” Hinkens said. “I knew she was going to bring me a good pitch to hit, so as soon as saw that, I took it away from her.”

Liz John followed with a single to score Hinkens with an insurance run.

The Rough Riders weren’t ready to concede, though.

With two outs, Mia Burgett tripled, sending up Mannon, who had a double in her last at bat. Duncan met with Bocock and the rest of her infield, and they decided to take the bat out of Mannon’s hand and put the tying run on base with an intentional walk.

The move paid off as Bocock struck out Makailyn Messer for the third time on the day and Danville celebrated its title.

“It was our decision. We knew what they had. She’s (Mannon) an amazing, amazing player. That was a decision we made,” Duncan said. “I told her (Addy) we were going to attack her all game long and she did that. But at that moment, we had bases open and two outs. She had struck out the (next) girl already, so let’s go get the next one and she did.”

“For me that last inning, I was super jacked,” said Meade. “Once we had those two outs, I was like we’ve got this. Even though that girl hit the ball, I knew we were still up two and we could get the job done. Then, once Addy struck that girl out, I just took it all home.”

Bocock, who is heading to Cedarville University this fall, had another phenomenal game on the mound in the championship game. She allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out 15 batters. That gave her 323 strikeouts this season and 691 for her Danville career, tops in school history in both categories by a large margin over previous record holder Shanna Mickley.

Offensively, Hinkens led the Devils with her game-winning triple and another single. Bocock, Dalayna Parker and John also singled for a Danville squad that was held to just five hits and struck out 10 times by Mannon.

The championship cemented what everyone around Central Ohio already knew — Danville is a small school powerhouse in softball. The season included the school’s second state title (2008) and third appearance in the state championship game (a 2017 runner-up finish), as well as its ninth district title. The Devils have been to 14 straight district final games.