Vikings remain on course in TAC

LaBrae rallied from a 2-0 deficit to upend Champion.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CHAMPION -- A close Trumbull Athletic Conference softball race became a whole lot tighter after LaBrae scored seven unanswered runs against the defending champs.
Champion jumped on Vikings pitcher Stepfanie Higgins for two runs in the first inning of Monday's game.
But Higgins blanked the Golden Flashes (9-3, 5-1 TAC) the rest of the way.
Angelica Pugh hit a fifth-inning double and scored the game-winning run on Kim Calderwood's single. Lia Gordon's seventh-inning grand slam off Lafayette College prospect Kasey Karr sealed the 7-2 victory for the Vikings (6-3, 5-1).
The Golden Flashes, Vikings and Lakeview each have one league loss about halfway through the schedule.
"It's a big win because it decides whether we [can] win the TAC or not," Higgins said. "If we had lost, we didn't have much chance. This gives us hope and gets us going."
Strong rivalry
LaBrae and Champion -- the two best small school teams in Trumbull County -- have developed quite a rivalry since the Vikings bounced the 24-1 Flashes in last year's district semifinal at Orwell. The Vikings went on to win the Massillon regional, defeating Mooney to earn their first state trip.
"This is the one we've been looking for to prove ourselves," LaBrae coach Chad Kiser said. "A lot of people told us that last year's tournament win was just a fluke.
"But we had battled in two close games earlier that season and we kinda wanted to prove to everybody that we can play [with them], that it wasn't coincidence or luck last year."
No one is underestimating the Vikings or the Flashes.
"Without a doubt, they're one of the best teams in the area," Kiser said of Champion. "Both teams know that in order to get to state, they will have to go through each other."
First comes the regular season race.
Following a postgame team meeting, Champion coach Cheryl Weaver said the Flashes are ready.
"This is a motivation that we're going to be back," Weaver said. "It's LaBrae that knocked us out last year and with this game here, it should fire us up even more."
Pugh called the win "very big -- it ties us for first. It takes a lot to beat them again. We had to play pretty much our best to beat them."
Strong start
Champion couldn't have scripted a better start as Hillary Beachy hit a one-out double and scored on Karr's single. Karr scored on Katie Saluga's two-out double.
Asked to pick which impressed him most between how far Gordon hit the grand slam and how well Higgins did after a shaky first inning, Kiser picked Higgins' performance.
"They are good hitters. She got into a couple of tough spots and worked her way out of them," Kiser said.
"As far as Lia's ball, nothing surprises me when she hits. She hits for power and she's hit them further than that this year."
Higgins said nerves get to her early.
"First inning, I'm always not very good," Higgins said. "That inning where we were only up one and they had a runner at third with the top of the order up -- that was very stressful."
She appreciated the cushion that Gordon's homer provided.
Gordon, who will play for Cleveland State, successfully gambled in her fourth plate appearance.
"In my at-bats before, she had been grooving the first pitch so I knew I needed to hit that first one rather than get down in the count," said Gordon of Karr.
"She's a good pitcher and if you let her get strikes on you, she's just going to eat away at you in the count, so I knew I had to jump out early."
williams@vindy.com