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Almost perfect: Gardiner’s gem gives Champion district crown
By DAN HINER
JEFFERSON
Champion pitcher Haylee Gardiner was almost perfect in the Golden Flashes’ 10-0 win against Kirtland in a Division III district final on Wednesday.
Gardiner took a perfect game into the fifth before a popup landed just out of reach of shortstop Megan Turner.
“It was disappointing and it was a little blooper, and there was nothing she could do about it. She tried her hardest,” Gardiner said.
The game was called after five innings because of the mercy rule.
Gardiner (14-2) finished with a complete-game shutout, allowing just the one hit and striking out seven. She also went 1 for 2 at the plate and drove in three runs.
“Haylee’s been doing a wonderful job. She pitched a perfect game against Brookfield in our sectional final and now to pitch a one-hitter in the district final, you got to give her all the credit in the world,” Champion head coach Cheryl Weaver said.
Champion (26-4) took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning after batting around. The inning started with a single by Alayna Fell and a two-base error allowed Kiersten Jones to reach base.
Gardiner helped her own cause by hitter a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Fell. Later in the inning a two-run single by first baseman Amber Ricci broke the game open.
“That’s been the thing we’ve been saying the last few games — set the tone early,” Weaver said. “So she [Gardiner] set the tone early by getting them out one, two, three. When we came in to bat, we set the tone that way. It’s kind of been our motto to do it that way — not that it always works, but they know that if you do that, you get the other side down then momentum will stay on your side.”
Champion added two more runs in the bottom of the third to take a 7-0 lead after a two-run single by Turner scored Jones and McKenzie Zigmont.
Turner finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs and one run scored.
The Golden Flashes scored their final three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning0. Gardiner hit a liner to center field with no outs and the bases loaded. An error on the play allowed two runs to score. The final run came across when Jones scored on a RBI single by Alexandra Steigerwald.
Kirtland head coach Tony Scibelli said his team exceeded expectations this season. He told his team all the pressure was on Champion due to high expectations, but he felt Kirtland started to press after falling behind early.
“We would have had to play a perfect game. We’re a very young team as well,” Scibelli said.
“We’re a little inexperienced at this level. We would have had to play a perfect game and we would have had to make an adjustment to her changeup a lot sooner than we did. It was tough for our kids to adjust, and we had a couple touch points that we were telling the girls.”
The win gave Champion its first district championship since it won three straight titles from 2010-2012.
“Well, this is three years and coming for us,” Gardiner said. “We battled back — we worked so hard to get here where we are today.
“I’m so proud of my team. I know they have my back on every play. That’s part of the reason that I had a one-hitter today. I’m just so proud of our accomplishments so far.”
Champion will meet Apple Creek Waynedale at 5 p.m. Wednesday in a regional semifinal at Massillon High School.