Boardman, Fitch ousted from Division I tournament

By BOB ETTINGER

sports@vindy.com

SOLON

Boardman softball coach Fred Mootz had seen it happen a number of times all season. The inability to get the timely hit came back to bite the Spartans in a 2-0 loss to Hudson in a Division I district semifinal at Roxbury Field on Wednesday.

“That’s been the deal all year,” Mootz said. “It’s been our Achilles’ [heel]. We left several runners on in several games. Unfortunately, it came back to bite us today. Unfortunately, we couldn’t string anything together. [Hudson] really couldn’t either. That’s just shows you how unbelievable the pitchers were today. We knew it was going to be a battle of wills and come down to who got the timely hit. Unfortunately, they did and we didn’t.”

The Explorers will play Solon, an 11-1 winner over Austintown Fitch in the other semifinal, for the district championship at 4:30 p.m. today.

Hudson plated a run in the home half of the third on a sacrifice-bunt single from Laurel Gomersal and another in the sixth on Cami Madar’s sacrifice fly.

“It’s really tough,” Boardman pitcher Madison Lester said. “We came out and played our best. We really wanted to win it, especially because it’s win or we’re playing our last game. We played our hardest.”

Lester scattered seven hits and allowed just the two earned runs. She struck out six and walked no one.

The Spartans (19-8) threatened in both the fourth and fifth innings, but stranded a runner at third and had another gunned down at third after being caught halfway down the line on a safety squeeze.

“That’s a tough play,” Mootz said. “It was supposed to be a safety squeeze. The bunt didn’t get quite far enough out. Unfortunately, we left it right in front of the plate and their catcher is dynamic. In a one-run game, the little things mount up.”

Boardman got hits from Lauren Maughan, Kathryn O’Horo and Ashley Saxton, but couldn’t find many holes.

“It is a game of inches,” Moots said. “I preached that from the start. The further you move on in the tournament, the more it becomes that. Sometimes it comes down to who is at home and who is on the road. It’s a battle of inches in many cases. Unfortunately, we couldn’t break through in the middle innings.”

SOLON-AUSTINTOWN FITCH

The Falcons (14-10) led 1-0 through two and a half innings and were feeling pretty good about themselves in the moment. That feeling didn’t last as they surrendered all 11 runs in the final three innings. All of them came after starting pitcher Lydia Spalding left with a hand injury.

“[Solon] did a nice job adjusting,” Fitch coach Steven Ward said. “Kaitlyn [Evanko] had a nice first inning in there. She didn’t give up anything. They adjusted and began to feel emboldened. They became comfortable with their swings. The defense played their hearts out for Kaitlyn. She gave us a fighting chance. I’m proud of what she did stepping in on such short notice.”

Abby Brown blasted a one-out double in the top of the third and scored on a single by Spalding for the Falcons’ lone run.

“Those were unexpected,” Fitch shortstop Lainie Simons said. “We were finally putting some balls in play. We were ready to get back on the field again when it was our turn. It gave us some hope.”

Spalding was injured trying to steal second following her RBI single. Her hand was stepped on as she slid into second.

“It’s a softball play,” Ward said. “Unfortunately, it happened today. We play aggressive. It was just an accident.”

That accident pushed Fitch out of its comfort zone because they Falcons were moving into a bit of the unknown.

“Lydia’s a sophomore,” Simons said. “Being back from last year, she gave us normalcy. When that was taken away, it hurt us. Kaitlyn has more balls put in play because she’s a different kind of pitcher. We just weren’t ready for it. We didn’t have a lot of confidence [because we lost the normalcy], for sure. Our hope was ripped away from us.”

Spalding, Brown and Kayla Kelty had the only hits for the Falcons.