Champion’s Gardiner saves her best for last in state final

June 7, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

AKRON

In her biggest and final competitive softball game, Champion’s Haylee Gardiner was simply masterful.

Gardiner, who will attend Ohio State University in the fall as a pre-medicine student, fired a two-hit shutout as the Golden Flashes defeated Bloom-Carroll, 4-0, for their sixth high school state championship.

Gardiner also contributed a seventh-inning, two-out, two-run single to seal Champion’s third Division III title in five seasons.

“The feeling is indescribable,” said Gardiner who also was a freshman on the Flashes’ championship team in 2012. That squad, led by ace Lindsay Swipas, also shut out Bloom-Carroll, 2-0, in the title game. “I’m just so proud of my team.”

Gardiner struck out five, walked one and hit a batter.

“We got a couple of strikeouts in the first few innings and I knew that she was on,” said sophomore catcher Molly Williams who calls Gardiner’s pitches. “This was probably the best game she’s thrown all year.”

Gardiner had plenty of help behind her. Freshman Alayna Fell caught three fly balls including a running grab of a ball hit by Hunter Gladman to open the Bulldogs’ second at-bat.

“I knew I had to be my absolute very best,” Gardiner said. “This was going to be my very last game so I was going to lay it all out on the field and pitch my heart out.

“I did not have much room to not throw my very best,” the senior class valedictorian said. “I pitched one of my better games, if not the best.”

Playing in its fourth consecutive state title game, Bloom-Carroll was shorthanded because ace Taran Alvelo (25-2) was not part of the team after she was charged on Thursday evening for shoplifting. Head coach Choc Woods declined to talk about the adversity created by the pitcher who has 108 career victories (tied for first in Ohio).

“We’re not going to dwell on any negatives,” Woods said. “We gave it our best shot. Our offense let us down today.”

In Thursday’s semifinal win over top-ranked Wheelersburg, the Bulldogs had 14 hits in a five-inning, 10-0 victory. Those numbers help put into perspective just how well Gardiner did in limiting the Bulldogs to singles by Kipley Detwiler and Camryn Smith.

“We had trouble hitting her riseball,” said pitcher McKenna Coffman, normally the shortstop.

Morgan Sells, the center fielder who moved to shortstop to replace Coffman, credited Gardiner for “a good changeup.” Sells said it was the first time she had played shortstop in five years.

Champion head coach Cheryl Weaver sympathized with the Bloom-Carroll players, who played the state final without one of their leads. Alvelo has Ohio’s strikeout record (1,515) and a scholarship to the University of Washington.

“Personally, I felt bad [for their players],” said Weaver who coached her third state champions in five seasons.

Weaver was concerned that the Bulldogs’ bats would be motivated to offset their loss.

“We had to go into it wanting it big time,” Weaver said.

The Bulldogs (27-5) stranded four baserunners, including two in the fifth inning. Gardiner escaped the threat by getting a a pop-out to second baseman Carissa Hurst and a groundout.

She saved her best for last, retiring the final eight batters.

“We mixed up the speeds, kept them off-balance,” Gardiner said.

In the seventh inning, Gardiner needed just four pitches to send down the five-six-seven hitters. She caught soft pop-ups for the final two outs.

Williams said their seventh-inning strategy was focusing on “getting the first out. If you let the first batter get on, they get hope and more energy.”

On the second pitch, Gladman flew out to Fell. Nicole Goodman and Tessa Decker then could not get the ball past the mound.

“It was awesome,” Williams said.

Two infield errors helped Champion take a 2-0 lead in the third inning. With two outs, Williams was credited with a single and took second on Sells’ throwing error.

Brittany Allen singled to score Williams, took second base on the throw home and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Fell struck out but catcher Detwiler allowed a passed ball. Well off of third base, Allen broke for home when Coffman failed to cover the plate and Detwiler threw the ball to third baseman Nicole Goodman, who was not far from the mound.

“As soon as she threw it, I saw it was unguarded,” Allen said.

With two outs in the seventh inning, Gardiner singled to right to score Fell and Hurst for a four-run lead.

The Flashes (29-4) stranded 12 baserunners.

As proud as she is of her 2012 medal, Gardiner called this win “definitely more special. This wasn’t something that was expected but something we’ve worked hard for and earned.”