The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chardon advances to D-I district round
Chardon uses a big fourth inning to dispatch Twinsburg, in a Division I sectional semifinal.
Sometimes all it takes is a little spark to ignite an inferno.
The Chardon softball team got its spark at the right time on May 12, and it led to a 7-0 win over visiting Twinsburg in a Division I sectional final at Munson Township Park.
Locked in a scoreless tie and on the cusp of giving up the lead, Chardon pitcher Kayla Noerr struck out two batters in a row with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth.
Invigorated by the big stop on the defensive side of the field, Chardon came to the plate in the bottom of the inning, hung five runs on the board and never looked back.
The win puts the eighthseeded Hilltoppers in a district semifinal on May 17 against top-seeded Austintown-Fitch.
“That was huge getting out of that inning,” said Chardon coach Stewart Landies of the nail-biting fourth that saw Twinsburg load the bases with one out. “Anytime you can do that and come back in the next inning and start putting the bat on the ball, that’s big.”
The Hilltoppers put the bat on the ball all right.
Seven times in a row, to be exact.
The magic started at the bottom of the order with Sydney Murray, Sidney Nagaj and Grace Legan all singling to load the bases. That brought up the dangerous top of the order for the Hilltoppers.
Sarah Sutton plated a run on an infield single that the Twinsburg first baseman had to make a diving stop on to keep it from squirting into the outfield.
Lindsey Leggett followed with a single to center that scored Nagaj and Legan. Then Noerr helped her own cause with a two-run double to left-center to score Sutton and Leggett.
Chardon had runners on
“I find it hard to believe, but the more I talk to everyone at school, Chardon has never won their conference since fast-pitch started. We’re putting playoffs aside. Now we’re focused on the WRC . ... We’d love to do that.” — Chardon coach Stewart Landies
first and third with one out when two straight hardhit liners were snared by Twinsburg defenders — or the fourth-inning damage would have been worse.
“Sydney, Sidney and Grace — those three keyed us,” Landies said of the bottom of the order that went 5-for-9 with four runs scored. “At 7, 8 and 9, we’re not looking for home runs, we’re looking to get on base so we can get the top of the order back up. They changed their mindset today and did a great job.”
In truth, the offensive onslaught was coming. Through three innings, Chardon had left five runners on base, hit a ton of majestic foul balls and were on the verge of timing up pitches.
It finally came in the fourth.
“I feel like our whole team felt that way,” Noerr said. “Everyone was making contact with the ball. We were either hitting it right at other people or weren’t stringing hits together, but we finally got it.”
Chardon got two other runs in the game, a fifth-inning RBI grounder by Legan and a sixth-inning sacrifice fly by Maddie Hauser, but that was simply icing on the cake with Noerr dealing on the bump.
The Butler University signee pitched a three-hitter, striking out 13. She retired the first nine batters before running into a little trouble in the fourth. No Twinsburg batter reached scoring position in the final there innings.
With five days separating Chardon from its next tournament game, the Hilltoppers now refocus their attention on the Western Reserve Conference. Chardon currently is in a tie atop the league with Riverside with two losses each.
Chardon has two games with Mayfield (including one on May 13) and one with Brush. Three wins means at least a conference co-title. If Riverside stumbles somewhere along the way, Chardon could have the league title to itself if it runs the table.
Landies said Chardon has never won a conference title in softball. Ever.
“I find it hard to believe, but the more I talk to everyone at school, Chardon has never won their conference since fast-pitch started,” Landies said. “We’re putting playoffs aside. Now we’re focused on the WRC. ... We’d love to do that.”
Noerr said that as good as the sectional title feels, the Hilltoppers are treating each day from now on “as if we’re 0-0.”
Said Murray, “We’ve gotta focus on tomorrow.”