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Freshman Burke twirls no-hitter for Howland
Photo
Howland’s Emily Price (9) slides into second base past Cuyahoga Falls’ Hannah Shane (1) during a Division I tournament softball game Monday at Howland Township Park. Freshman Hannah Burke tossed a no-hitter to lead Howland to the 10-0 victory.
By Ryan buck
Howland softball pitcher Hannah Burke’s afternoon got off to an unfavorable beginning when she walked the leadoff batter to open the game Monday. It didn’t seem to bother her coach, however, who noticed a peculiar sense of confidence from his pitcher.
“As soon as she walked her, she looked over at the dugout like ‘she knows,’” her coach, Bill Amero said.
The freshman was making her first postseason start in the Tigers’ matchup with Cuyahoga Falls in the Division I tournament at Howland Township Park.
“After that first batter I knew I had to just lay down the law and go at it,” Burke laughed. The free pass was her only blemish of the game.
In six inning of no-hit ball, Howland’s ace overpowered Cuyahoga Falls with eight strikeouts in her team’s 10-0 victory.
“My drop-curve was working, so was my screwball, and just my outside pitches,” she said. “It’s just wanting to be out there. I love pitching.”
With Burke in command, the Tigers’ offense gave their starter plenty of support.
Emily Price and Olivia Nicholas both reached safely and stole bases in the bottom of the first inning. Price scored on Erika Nite’s single, while Nicholas came home on Tori McCormick’s sacrifice fly.
Nicholas added another run in the third when she stole another base before scoring on a McCormick double to right-center field to build a 3-0 lead.
Howland swiped seven bases in the contest and put pressure on Cuyahoga Falls starter Kayla Rader and her defense.
The Tigers displayed more heads-up base running in the fourth when Julia Sheffield stole home after an errant throw from the backstop sailed wide of Rader and trickled past the pitcher’s circle.
“We had the right runners on base,” Amero said. “I just thought we had to force things to see how they were gonna do. I felt with the people we had running we could make things happen.”
Burke had a RBI single in the fifth inning, then a Nicholas RBI, another Nites single and blast by Sheffield ended the game.
“I feel like we’re coming together more as a team,” Nicholas said. “We know if we lose one game, then we’re knocked out and we’re done.”
While the Tigers seem to be clicking at the right time, Burke has grown from a promising newcomer to the ace of the Howland pitching staff.
“She’s a freshman pitcher and she’s been thrown into the role of being our number one pitcher; for a D-1 program, it’s a lot. She was a good pitcher at the beginning of the year, but she’s a whole lot better pitcher now,” Amero said.