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Lisbon, Aquinas advance to final
By ERIC FORTUNE
BERLIN CENTER
It was an evening of firsts for the St. Thomas Aquinas and Lisbon high school teams on Thursday at the Division IV district semifinals at Western Reserve High School.
After losing to host Western Reserve the past two years, the Knights finally were able to get over the hump with a 5-4 victory.
Lisbon qualified for a district final for the first time, defeating Jackson-Milton, 5-3. The Blue Jays were district champs in 2013 and 2012.
“I need a defibrillator,” said Lisbon coach Dave Crismon who was an assistant coach for Jackson-Milton’s girls basketball team last winter. “No, this is a good feeling.
“This is a real good feeling. This is the first time ever for our program. This has been on their radar since day one,” Crismon said. “When we didn’t get the league title it was disappointing, but we knew we could compete in this district. We get the number one seed. We just have to go out tomorrow and prove it.”
Lisbon (16-5) overcame an initial home run by Jackson-Milton’s leadoff hitter Sierra Pierce.
The Blue Jays (10-15) had a chance to blow the game wide open in the second inning but could only muster one run after leaving the bases loaded when Sam Tinsley pitched out of that jam.
“That was huge,” Crismon said. “Your heart just sink, though. Sam’s been really good at hitting her marks. If she hits her marks, we’re going to get the ball to go where we need it to go and get that out.
“If they earn it, then they earn it. If she misses her mark, and they hit it, it’s on her and she knows that. She’s cool though pitching out of those jams.”
For Pierce, the bottom of the third was rough with two errors mixed with two singles started an inning where the Blue Devils scored four runs.
“We knew she was good,” Crismon said. “We respect her. She throws hard and has a nice drop ball and changeup.
“We told the girls that they could not get down in the count. So, went up there looking for some first pitch and second pitch strikes.”
Aquinas-Western Reserve
The Knights (14-5) overcame five errors and a third inning where Western Reserve (12-7) jumped on top 3-0 on zero hits.
“The bottom of my order came through for us today and helped us produce some runs,” Western Reserve coach Joe Serensky said. “I’m happy with the way they played. We played fairly clean ball. It was a clean game.”
The Blue Devils’ Maddie Kreitzburg was coasting, giving up just two hits over the first four innings. But an error on a bunt to start the top of the fifth got the Knights on the board as Hailey Hawkins’ fielder’s choice scored Caroline Popa.
Madi Orock’s single in the bottom half of the fifth got the run back for the Blue Devils.
In the last two innings, the Knights produced four runs. Isabella Sherban’s two-run homer in the top half of the seventh gave the Knights the lad.
“She left it up over the plate,” Serensky said. “That girl, I wasn’t expecting her to be the one to crank it out of the park. They had one bigger hit than us and that was the difference in the game.”