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Shaky defense spells doom for Bristol in D-IV
By JACOB RUFFO
KENT
The Bristol softball team’s district championship came as a bit of a surprise, especially with just three seniors on the Panthers’ roster.
But the momentum they built in winning a Division IV title at Candlelite Knolls last week did not follow the Panthers to Kent State on Wednesday.
Jeromesville Hillsdale took advantage of four Bristol errors and pitcher Sydney Long fired a shutout in the Falcons’ 3-0 win over the Panthers in a regional semifinal at Kent State University.
Bristol ends its season 15-10. Hillsdale (23-3) will meet the winner of today’s semifinal between Lisbon and Plymouth in a regional final at noon on Saturday at KSU.
“I think they let the hype of the game get the best of them at moments,” Emily Woodford said. “[Hillsdale] is definitely a beatable team. They did exactly what we expected. We just didn’t go hard enough.”
But the first-year coach said the Panthers aren’t finished.
“I’m still very proud of what they did, and I’m looking forward to what’s to come with this team,” she said. “They were very young. They had six juniors and five freshmen on the team.
“I definitely think we can make it back here next year. We’re going to play the same way we did this year. We’re just going to keep playing hard.”
Long struck out seven was helped out by some solid defense behind her. The Falcons didn’t commit an error.
The game was scoreless until the third inning when Hillsdale’s Emily Crossen hit a lead-off double and eventually came around to score.
Keirah Smetzer singled to lead off the fifth and came around to score after three consecutive bunts, including two sacrifices.
The Falcons added an insurance run in the sixth, when pinch runner Taylor Rebman scored on one of the four Panthers’ errors.
The fielding miscues spoiled a good effort by Bristol pitcher Ashlyn Slusher.
“The big number on the scoreboard is that they had four errors and we had zero,.” Hillsdale coach Ben Bolen said. “Strong pitching and good defense — that’s the way we taught the girls. It’s the fundamentals. We play a little bit old fashioned.”
The Falcons like to keep the pressure on opponents.
“We tend to wear on people as the games go on,” Bolen said. “We put the pressure on, and we keep it on and use it to our advantage.” In the fifth inning, Hillsdale bunted three straight at-bats, including a single, to get a runner all the way around from first and take advantage of Bristol’s shaky defense in the process.
“It was a result of their fielding issues,” Bolen said. “We will make teams make a play.”