Spartans win slugfest

Boardman earned a return trip to the state tournament with a 9-8 win over Madison.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AKRON -- After waltzing with ease through most of the regular season, the top-ranked Boardman High softball team has transformed into comeback specialists.
Saturday at the University of Akron's Buchtel Field, the Spartans scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning for the second straight game, to win their third consecutive regional championship, this time by defeating Madison, 9-8.
"To say I am emotionally spent would be a gross understatement," Boardman coach Bill Amero said. "We have never been in a slugfest like this.
"When we scored three, they scored two or three; when we scored one, they scored -- that's a sign of a great team," said Amero of Madison (28-3). "I think they have one."
Mt. Vernon next
Thursday at 3 p.m., Boardman (27-4) will play Mt. Vernon (25-3) in a state semifinal game at Ashland's Brookside Park.
With the seesaw affair tied at 8 in the sixth inning, Boardman sophomore Jaclyn Corroto smashed Liz Orabel's first pitch to deep center field for a triple.
"All I wanted to do was make contact," Corroto said. "When she was bringing the strike, she was putting it right there, and I saw that first pitch and just [pounded] it.
"It [looked] like a big watermelon [coming in] -- I just wanted to send it [out]," Corroto said.
Laura Amero's second sacrifice fly of the game brought home Corroto home.
Staked to the one-run lead, Boardman pitcher Jennifer Pancake retired six of the Blue Streaks' final seven batters.
"That was definitely like a roller-coaster [ride] -- we were up, then we got down, but we came back," said Pancake, a junior. "It was heart-pumping, it was exciting -- it was a game you wanted to play."
Leads Blue Streaks
The only Blue Streak to reach base in the final two at-bats was Lindsay Schmid, who drew a two-out walk in the sixth inning due to respect.
After Schmid hit a RBI triple in the first, a bases-loaded double in the second and a single in the fourth, Coach Amero didn't want her seeing any pitch near the plate.
Schmid's third hit came off Gina Rango, who twice relieved Pancake to end Madison threats.
"[Schmid] was just clubbing it, so I put Gina out there just to give her another look," Amero said of the fourth-inning pitching switch, the second of the game.
Amero stuck with Pancake (15-2) in the sixth inning because "there was no one on base. [Schmid] couldn't cause as much damage. If she hit one, so be it."
When Boardman jumped on Orabel (18-3) for three first-inning runs, the Spartans thought they would enjoy an easy victory.
Instead, Pancake was rattled almost immediately when she was called for "crow-hopping" on her delivery three times in the first two innings.
The Blue Streaks converted two Spartans errors, two walks and Schmid's bases-clearing double into five second-inning runs for a 6-4 lead.
Boardman sliced the lead in half after Meagan Cunningham's lead-off double in the fourth inning was followed by two sacrifices.
Spartans go ontop
Pancake doubled to lead off the fifth inning. Rango induced a three-base error by shortstop Ingrid Brainard.
Jennifer Feret reached base on a fielder's choice and scored on Cunningham's two-out single to give the Spartans an 8-6 edge.
The Blue Streaks weren't finished, cashing in two errors and two singles for two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Because of McCabe's forearm injury suffered in Thursday's 4-2 victory over Massillon Jackson, Amero shuffled the Spartans lineup, starting Cunningham at shortstop and moving up Corroto and Pancake to the first and third spots in the batting lineup.
Corroto had a triple, single, sacrifice fly, walk and stolen base while Pancake's two hits included a double
Rango, the Spartans' clean-up batter, had a single but reached base three other times on Madison errors.
In the fourth inning, McCabe came in to play second base, sending Corroto to shortstop and Cunningham behind the plate.
williams@vindy.com