Saturday, May 21, 2011
By Tom Williams
JEFFERSON
It took an inning for the undefeated Champion softball team to shake off the rust from a nine-day layoff.
But once the Golden Flashes’ bats warmed up, Wickliffe was no match in Friday’s 14-2 Division III district semifinal game at the JAGS Complex.
“Anything can happen, but I never really felt nervous,” said Champion coach Cheryl Weaver, referring to Wickliffe’s 2-0 lead in the first inning. “I knew our hitters would be able to get those two runs back.”
Champion wasted no time seizing control of the game. The Flashes converted three hits and three errors into five runs in the second inning then had eight runs in the third.
Today at 4 p.m., Champion (21-0) will take on Pymatuning Valley for the district title. The game will be played at Jefferson’s Little League Baseball facility north of town on state Route 46.
“It’s [another] a big game against PV,” Weaver said. “It seems like districts is the only place where we meet up.”
After surrendering two runs and three hits in the first inning, Champion pitcher Lindsay Swipas limited the Blue Devils to one more single before Kayla Hunt took over to close out the five-inning game.
“She started out a little slow, but we have not played since [May 11],” Weaver said of her top pitcher. “When you haven’t played for a week, I don’t care what type of pitcher you are, it’s different.”
Swipas said the Flashes weren’t themselves at the start.
“It was kind of hard, we were all tense,” Swipas said. “The first inning was kind of rocky.”
“I know I was nervous because it’s been a while [since we played].”
Wickliffe’s Nicole Urbania led off with a single then took third after an error on a sacrifice bunt by Janet Hill. Bloop singles by Hopton and Anna Brodnik had the Flashes trailing 2-0, a rarity this season.
“It didn’t bother me because we had only batted once and we were putting the ball in play,” Swipas said. “It wasn’t like we were striking out — I was confident that we would come around.”
In the second inning, the game swung in Champion’s favor when Swipas came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. The junior hit a line drive to left field where it bounced off the fielder’s glove for a three-base error.
Alison Sorber had two doubles, Haley McAllister tripled and Hunt, Mackenzie Kiser and Taylor Petersal all doubled in the Flashes’ 13-hit attack.