Poland rallies for 6-3 win, gains berth in final

& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;By PETE MOLLICA & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AKRON -- Poland High had to work hard for its 6-3 victory over Ashtabula Edgewood Wednesday in a Division II regional softball semifinal at Firestone Stadium.
The Bulldogs (23-5) fell behind 2-0 in the first inning, battled back to take the lead, and then, with the help of four Edgewood errors, advanced to Saturday's regional championship game.
Poland will meet the winner of today's other semifinal between Mantua Crestwood and Marlington on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Firestone Stadium.
That winner advances to the state tournament in Ashland.
The Bulldogs were out-hit 10-9, but according to Poland coach Reid Lamport: "The bottom line is it's not how many hits you get, but when you get them."
Modic ties score
Trailing 2-0, the Bulldogs got the first of their key hits when Jess Modic drilled a two-out single with the bases loaded to tie the score in the bottom of the first inning. Poland took the lead when Edgewood pitcher Jaci Neczeporenko delivered a wild pitch, and the Bulldogs never trailed again.
"When you get to this point in the season it is not always who makes the plays, but who doesn't make the plays and that's kind of what happened today. They gave us a couple of runs," Lamport said.
Jessica Lamport (13-3) was the winning pitcher, but admittedly wasn't at her best. She allowed 10 hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.
"I have to give all the credit to my defense," Jessica Lamport said. "They were just tremendous behind me, making all kinds of great plays."
Rebounds after first
Lamport allowed four hits in the first inning and was never in serious trouble again until the fifth, when the Warriors scored their third run.
Jamie Pocatko doubled to left-center, moved to third on a fly ball and scored when Lamport threw a wild pitch.
In the top of the first inning, Pam Dreslinski hit Lamport's first pitch for a single, then Pocatko tried to sacrifice her to second, but the Bulldogs threw the ball away, putting runners on second and third.
Lisa Steadman singled in one run, but the Bulldogs got a big out when Pocatko tried to steal third and was thrown out by Stephanie Russell.
Jenna Senita then singled in the second run before Lamport pitched out of the inning.
"We kind of looked like the Bad News Bears in that first inning," said Reid Lamport.
But in the bottom of the first, Steffi Graf walked to lead off, and after Lamport popped out to right, Katie Naumoff hit an infield single to deep short.
Russell then loaded the bases by reaching on an infield error.
Modic delivers
Modic wasted little time as she smashed the first pitch into right-center field scoring Graf and Naumoff.
Russell was thrown out at the plate trying to score on an infield ground out, but then Neczeporenko unleashed a wild pitch, scoring Modic.
In the fourth, the Bulldogs plated two more runs after Amy Nelson led off with a single up the middle. Graf reached on an error and Naumoff singled home Nelson. Graf then scored on a sacrifice fly by Russell.
In the fifth, the Bulldogs scored their final run with the help of two Edgewood errors. Britt Davis led off with a single and Ciera Urichick followed with another single, and both runners moved up on an error on the throw back to the infield. With two outs, Davis scored on the Warriors' second error of the inning.
Naumoff and Davis each had two hits for the Bulldogs, while Graf added a double and scored twice.
& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;mollica@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;