Sunday, May 29, 2011
By Jon Moffett
Massillon
Even with a fat lip and a bloody nose, Alison Sorber still couldn’t help but smile, no matter how much it hurt.
And the regional championship trophy she was holding sure made things a little bit easier.
The Champion High junior embodied her team — she took a few hits, but stood her ground. And when all was said and done, it was Champion standing tall with a 4-0 victory over Norwayne in the Division III regional championship game at the Massillon High softball field.
The Golden Flashes advance to the state tournament for the third time in eight seasons.
Sorber got her battle scars attempting to score from first base on a shallow hit. But the first baseman was met at the plate by the ball and frustrated Bobcats catcher Rachel Ripley.
The tag was, well, a little rough and caught Sorber between her batting helmet and the face mask. She crumpled to the ground and remained there for a few minutes before returning to the dugout with a souvenir.
That’s about the time the Golden Flashes (25-0) smelled the blood in the water. But did it crank the energy level up at all?
“Oh goodness yes,” Champion head coach Cheryl Weaver said. “Any time somebody is roughing up one of your family members, you’re going to step up and try to do some damage to them too.”
Only the damage they did was on the scoreboard.
Champion scored a pair of runs in the top of the second inning, one in third and one in the seventh. Sorber had three hits, including a triple, and scored a run.
Weaver wasn’t the only one who took exception to the hard tag. Junior pitcher Lindsay Swipas said the play also bothered her.
“That definitely made me mad,” Swipas said. “So that kind of got me more fired up.”
Ever heard about the Incredible Hulk? Swipas is a little like that: you won’t like her when she’s angry.
Swipas struck out 12 batters and allowed just two hits and a walk — which ironically was drawn by Ripley. And Swipas said when she’s in the zone, it’s a dangerous thing for hitters.
“Usually when I get fired up I just get more focused,” she said. “We were pretty mad about that.”
What the team was happy about was its ability to shut down the Bobcats (24-4) in every way. Every ground ball that found a hole for the Flashes — who had eight hits — was a cleanly-fielded out.
And every bloop hit by Champion was a lazy fly out or dramatic catch.
Weaver said the defense has played above and beyond at times, and she has noticed the team is playing at a high level. Weaver said this could be the best team the school had fielded since their last trip to the state tournament in 2006, when the Golden Flashes were Ohio’s runner-up.
“They have all stepped it up a notch, and they’re ready to go,” she said.