MADISON TOWNSHIP — The Phoenix rises from its own ashes in Greek mythology.
The Madison softball team can relate.
The Rams will take on Louisville Friday at 10 a.m. in the first of two Division III state semifinal games at Akron’s Firestone Stadium.
Bloom-Carroll meets Greenville in the second game. The winners battle for the state title at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Madison (16-14) is in the Final Four for the second time in program history and the first time since 1995.
The Rams nearly ended their state tournament drought last spring, only to suffer the cruelest of fates. Madison was three outs away from the regional title, but gave up a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 6-5 loss to Holland Springfield.
The loss was devastating.
“Last year, the day after we lost in the regional final, I was worried,” longtime coach Tim Niswander admitted. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say.”
Caliyah Clapper, Madison’s sophomore ace, took the lead.
“Caliyah texted me first, and then Sophie (Lowe),” Niswander said, “and then a couple of other kids after that. They all said, ‘We’re going to start back to work. We’re going to get back here and we’re going to finish.'”
That’s just what the Rams did.
Clapper twirled a complete-game five-hitter and struck out nine in Madison’s 3-1 win over Uniontown Lake in last week’s regional championship game at Ashland University’s Deb Miller Stadium.
She helped her own cause at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in.
“We wouldn’t let go of last season,” Clapper said after a regional district semifinal win over Shelby. “It hurt really bad.”
The Rams didn’t exactly thunder into the postseason. Madison entered tournament play with a sub-.500 record.
In four playoff games, the Rams have outscored opponents 25-4.
“We’ve been talking all year that this is where we want to be,” Niswander said as tournament play began two weeks ago. “I told them … I thought the best team came over on the bus with me and now all you’ve got to do is go out and prove it. And that’s what we did.”