Poland pulls past Howland, will play Edgewood in final

By Joe Scalzo

ASHTABULA — In the biggest game of the season (so far), on a well-worn mound against a tough team that had already seen her two times this spring, Poland freshman Erin Gabriel showed a little bit of vulnerability, a few more flashes of brilliance and a lot of poise.

“She doesn’t pitch her best every game,” Bulldogs coach Reid Lamport said. “She’s not Superman.”

Not yet, anyway. But you can be forgiven for wondering how long it will take before she’s Supergirl.

Gabriel struck out 12 and walked just one batter (her first in more than 37 innings), going to the distance to help Poland beat Howland 5-1 in Wednesday’s Division II district softball semifinal at JAG Fields.

She also singled, doubled, drove in two runs and did a pretty convincing impression of a senior in a freshman’s body.

“The key is she’s able to grind her way through,” Lamport said. “Sometimes people expect more than they should because she has ability.”

The Bulldogs (24-3) advanced to today’s district final where they will play Ashtabula Edgewood for the sixth time in seven years.

Edgewood, which defeated Cardinal Mooney 10-1 in Thursday’s other semifinal, has won just one of those meetings — in 2006.

“We’re excited to play them,” Edgewood coach Shelley Monas said. “We love the challenge.”

Poland wasn’t perfect on Thursday — it committed three errors — but the Bulldogs did a better job taking advantage of Howland’s mistakes.

Four of their five runs were unearned (Howland had four errors) and the one that wasn’t was aided by a wild pitch.

“When you get to this point in the tournament, a lot of time it boils down to making plays,” Lamport said. “I applaud Howland — they were ready to play. Erin didn’t strike everybody out.

“We had to make plays today and we did.”

The Tigers scored first, with Erika Nites hitting a one-out single in the first inning, advancing to second on a fielding error and scoring on a throwing error to make it 1-0.

Poland answered back when Gabriel led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Her pinch runner, Maura Bobby, eventually scored due to a wild pitch, a sacrifice bunt and a fielder’s choice to tie the game at 1.

“If you’re the favored team, you don’t want them to get confidence,” Lamport said. “You always want to come back with a run.”

Poland added another run in the fifth when Gabriel hit a deep fly to left field that was mishandled. Karah Pierce followed with a single and Bobby scored on a fielding error.

The Bulldogs put it away with three runs in the sixth when Alexys Shield reached on an error, Megan Hirschbeck hit a two-out RBI single and, one batter later, Gabriel hit a two-run double.

Howland’s Melanie Cope pitched a nice game, tossing a five-hitter with two strikeouts, in a losing effort.

“I wanted to go out — or stay in — battling to the death,” said Howland coach Jane Price, whose team lost two previous games this season to Poland, 3-2 and 8-1. “I wanted to see that they could do it [battle] against a first-class team.

“We made them play, we made them fight, we made them earn this win. And for that, I’m truly proud.”

Mooney-Edgewood

In the other semifinal, senior Megan Dragon struck out 15 and Edgewood scored six runs in the sixth and seventh to break it open for their third win over Mooney this season.

The Cardinals were done in by six errors, something that left coach Mark Rinehart shaking his head afterward.

“We approached a big game with jitters and there’s no reason for that,” he said. “We’ve been in big games all year. We played the state champions [Canfield] last week.

“When you get to big games, you have to play a big game. And we were very far from playing a good game.”

Christina Hrehor had three hits, including two doubles, to lead the Cardinals, while Kelcie Herberger and Macy Ucchino each added two hits.

For Edgewood (21-4), Kourtney Martin had two hits, including a two-run homer, and scored two runs. Brittney Mackey added a triple.

Dragon (19-2), a first team all-Ohioan, has been on the mound for the two previous meetings between the Warriors and Bulldogs in the district final, and Lamport had a feeling his team would see her again today.

“When you’ve got a first team all-state pitcher, you figure if you score one or two runs, you figure you’re gonna win the game,” Lamport said. “We’ve got to find a way to score some runs.”

scalzo@vindy.com