Dragons get it done

BOB ETTINGER
Star Beacon

May 20, 2008 02:49 am

— BOARDMAN — Lakeside softball coach Kerri Weir doesn’t like her hitters to fall victim to the same kind of pitch on consecutive tosses.
In that vein, two hitters into the Dragons’ first at-bat in a Division I district semifinal battle with Mayfield on Monday, Weir had her hitters make an adjustment in the batter’s box.
The adjustment paid off in a big inning and a 3-2 victory over the Wildcats at Boardman Field of Dreams.
“We preach a lot about every pitch, whether it’s a curveball or not, to not let the pitcher get away with it two times in a row,” Weir said. “We want them to adjust in the box and make them throw different pitches. That’s something we talk about a lot.”
The Dragons (15-5) will play Brunswick, a 3-2 winner over Boardman in the other district semifinal on Monday, in the district championship today.
“I honestly don’t know a whole lot about (Brunswick),” Weir said. “I know they have a very good program. We’ll have to just see what happens.”
It will be the first time the Dragons play for a district title in Lakeside history.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Weir said. “We really believed coming in here we could win tonight. We’re right where we want to be right now.”
Lakeside struck for all three of its runs in the home half of the first after falling behind, 1-0, at the end of the first half-inning.
“They were legitimate hits,” Mayfield coach Angie Dunlap said. “They had four hits, one of them a double. They were all legitimate hits.”
“(The Lakeside hitters) took away (pitcher Nicole Sills’) best pitch, her curveball,” Mayfield assistant coach Kristen Heinaman said. “(Weir) had her batters move up in the box. She had them make the adjustment after the first two batters and that took away the curve. We had to throw pitches we haven’t used all year.”
Erica Villa led off the inning with a slap single but was erased when Mallory Zappitelli reached on a fielder’s choice. Zappitelli stole second and scored on a double to right-center by Christina Hutchison. Hutchison scored a batter later on a single up the middle by Miranda Newsome to give the Dragons a 2-1 advantage.
“We always want to start strong,” Newsome said. “We don’t want to get ourselves in a hole. I saw my teammates get on and it gave me confidence. If they could get hits, I could, too. We were jumping on the first good pitch.
“We came in the dugout (after the top of the first) and said it was just one run. When Villa got on, we realized we could score just as well as they did.”
Newsome moved to second on the throw home and scored Lakeside’s third and final run on Christine Misinec’s single up the middle.
“It was very easy to hit (after the three batters before me got hits),” Misinec said. “I felt the momentum and had to help the team win. We weren’t waiting (on pitches). We were jumping on the first good pitch we saw.”
Hutchison (14-4), buoyed by the big inning and a strong defense, made the lead stand up.
“When we make the plays behind her, she’s more confident,” Weir said. “She gets comfortable and throws the ball better. It’s a more relaxed atmosphere when she knows the defense is behind her.”
“We had some opportunities,” Dunlap said. “We had several strikeouts and any time you do that, you’re giving away outs. We’ve got to put the ball in play. We did have some hard-hit balls, but they were right at people.
“The kids hit the ball. In back-to-back at-bats, we hit the ball hard to right field (a low, hard liner and a hard-hit fly ball, both caught by Lakeside right fielder Maddie Messner). If one of those tails off or are a couple feet to either direction, especially down the right-field line, they’re triples.”
Hutchison struck out nine, walked two and allowed two runs on four hits.
“Mainly, it was my fastball,” Hutchison said. “The key has been my changeup. It keeps the hitters off balance and makes my fastball better. Placement was also a big part of my game. The defense helped me. That allowed me to just pitch and I just let the defense field the ball.”
Sills (7-5) held the Dragons hitless over the final six and two-thirds innings and was just one walk shy of being perfect over that span.
“She did an awesome job,” Dunlap said. “It was basically three up and three down (the last six innings). It was just that first inning.”
“We’ve been sporadic this year,” Weir said. “We’ve been a one-big-inning team this year. I joked with them earlier this year they were one-inning wonders. We jump on a team quickly in one inning, then we sit back and let things happen.”
The Wildcats (12-10) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first after leadoff batter Brittany Ungrady reached on a slap single and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Erin Delbrocco. Ungrady took third on a bouncer back to Hutchison and scored on a two-out single to right by cleanup hitter Cassie Gaye.
“It’s been one of our goals all year to score first,” Dunlap said. “We didn’t expect them to come back and answer the call.”
“That surprised us a little,” Weir said of the Wildcats taking the early lead. “They put the bat on the ball early and got the job done. They had a slap single to the shortstop and a base hit to right field. I was a little surprised we came right back at them in the bottom of the first.
“We’ve matured a lot. Last year, that run in the top of the first would have put us down. This year, we’re more confident. In the bottom of the first, we came right back at them. That definitely set the tone for the game.”
Mayfield added a second run in the top of the sixth following a one-out single by Gaye and a two-out double by Sills.
Gaye was the only hitter for either team with more than one base hit.

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