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Pitch perfect: Howell, Champion roll in D-III
Two-time state champion Golden Flashes to meet South Range in regional
By MIKE McLAIN
LEAVITTSBURG
You’d never have known that Sophie Howell had just put the finishing touches on a 12-strikeout, perfect game in a 10-0 win over the Newton Falls Tigers.
There was no mass celebration by the Champion Golden Flashes junior as she calmly walked from the pitcher’s circle to accept the congratulations of teammates and coaches.
It was another day of work and another Division III district championship for the mighty Flashes, who added one more piece of hardware to a school trophy case that might be as large as any in the Mahoning Valley. When someone mentioned that Howell probably didn’t realize she had thrown a perfect game (the contest was shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule), he couldn’t have been more right.
You have to remember that Howell has thrown three perfect games this season. There are several other no-hitters in the season log, but the coaching staff couldn’t remember how many.
“I think I started [to realize it] toward the end, but I was trying not to overthink it,” Howell said. “Just try to keep doing what I was doing.”
The district title is the fifth straight for the Flashes, who’ve won the Division III state title the last two seasons and three of the last four. Champion has captured eight state championships, including five under the leadership of coach Cheryl Weaver.
While the celebration Thursday at the LaBrae High School field lacked a tear-down-the-goalposts feeling, it never gets old for Weaver.
“It’s getting harder and harder to put into words,” Weaver said. “If anyone would look at our schedule, we played the hardest schedule of anybody. You think of teams that are moving on in D-I and D-II; those are teams we played.”
The Flashes (25-2) loaded up their non-conference schedule with Akron Hoban, Uniontown Lake, LaGrange Keystone, Perry, Louisville, Erie (Pa.) McDowell and North Canton Hoover. The challenges have strengthened a team that entered the season battle-tested from long tournament runs the last two seasons.
“The credit is to the girls,” Weaver said. “They’ve been hitting the ball so well. They are a great group of girls. The way they jell together is fantastic.”
It took the Flashes until the third inning to solve Tigers pitcher Tara Backherms, who allowed one run in the first on a double by Cassidy Shaffer that drove in Allison Smith. Champion sent 13 batters to the plate in the third, scoring seven runs. Shaffer had another run-producing double. Brooklyn Whitt followed with a two-run triple. Emma Gumont added a one-run double.
The Flashes stretched the lead to 10-0 in the fourth inning, and it could have been more if not for fine defensive work by the Tigers in preventing Whitt from stretching a double into a lead-off triple. Gumont then doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Gabby Hollenbaugh was hit by a pitch, and Gumont scored when Hollenbaugh stole second.
Howell helped her cause with a single that produced the final run.
Howell almost lost her perfect game when Joel Hood worked the count to 3-2 with two outs in the top of the fifth before striking out.
“You just hope you can go out there and play your best game and do well,” Howell said. “It feels great every time.”
The Flashes will meet South Range in the Massillon regional Wednesday at 5 p.m. The Raiders advanced with a 4-3 win over Crestview on Thursday in another district final.