LEAGUE OPENER … Wauseon’s Bella McGuire takes a swing at a pitch in Wauseon’s NWOAL opener at Evergreen.
PHOTOS BY RENEA KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
IN THE CIRCLE … Peyton Mossing fired a complete game with five strikeouts as Evergreen started league play with a walk-off win over Wauseon. VIEW 82 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (April 13, 2026) — When it was all said and done, the heroes were many, with the last being freshman Maya Vance.
Vance rapped an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh, a hit that gave Evergreen a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Wauseon.
“This showed a lot of courage from our girls,” Viking coach Sarah Friess expressed. “We had a lot of grit and determination being down 2-0 and knowing that going into the last inning that we still had more left in us.”
“You could feel it in the dugout that we were confident and not ready to give up.”
Peyton Mossing got out of a first inning jam, but the heavy-hitting Indians got a pair in the third to take the lead.
Bella McGuire rapped a leadoff double to right, but Mossing got the next two hitters on a fly ball and strikeout.
With two down, Josie Russell chalked up an RBI single to put Wauseon on top. Addison Baldwin followed that up with a run-producing double that gave the Indians a 2-0 lead.
From that point, Mossing kept Wauseon (7-4, 0-1 NWOAL) off the board the rest of the way. “She was great,” Friess exclaimed of the game her sophomore hurler had. “She had command of the circle.
“She came back from deep counts to get strikeouts a few times and she got girls to hit off the handle and the end of the bat, her change-up worked really well.”
The Vikings sliced the Indian lead in half in the bottom of the third. Lanae Manz was hit by a pitch with two outs and Sydney Bull singled to put Vikings on first and second.
Vance doubled to center to bring in Evergreen’s first run to cut into the Indian lead. For the next three innings, Breah Teal kept the Vikings off the basepaths until the bottom of the seventh, when Evergreen (5-3, 1-0 NWOAL) had its climactic rally.
It took just one pitch for the Vikings to tie the game as Avah Vaculik lined Teal’s first offering over the left-field fence to make it 2-2.
Teal got Manz on a ground ball but then plunked Bull with a 1-1 pitch to put the winning run on base.
Vance then lashed the first pitch to her into the left-field corner, a shot that chased Bull all the way around the sacks for the winning run.
“Maya is really coming through for us, she does a great job behind the plate also,” Friess said.
“When she came up, I told her to just understand this is not all on you and do your best and put the ball in play.”
All the Vikings’ runs came on extra-base hits. Mossing grabbed the victory on the mound, walking just one and striking out five Indians.
WHS 002 000 0 – 2 10 2
EHS 001 000 2 – 3 4 0
WP- Peyton Mossing (IP-7, H-10, R-2, BB-1, K-5)
LP- Breah Teal (IP-6.1, H-4, R-3, BB-2, K-4)
LEADING HITTERS: (Evergreen) Maya Vance – 2 doubles, 2 RBIs; Avah Vaculik – home run. (Wauseon) Josie Russell – 3 singles, RBI; Addison Baldwin – double, single, RBI.