The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Gilmour falls in district final
CANFIELD » The Gilmour softball team took a 77-mile bus ride to Canfield for a Division III district championship game on May 19, and it probably doesn’t do justice to how far the Lancers actually came this season.
After entering the tournament draw with a winless 0-5 record, the Lancers went on an eightgame winning streak, including three tournament wins over higher-seeded opponents.
The fairy-tale ride came to an end on May 19 in a 5-1 loss to South Range, the third-ranked Division III team in the state.
“You know, when you look back at the way we started and the way we finished, it was like two different seasons,” Coach Tony Bondra said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our team. … To play that team to 5-1, and even though we lost, it was a better game than 5-1. It shows how far we’ve come.”
The game came down to timely hits — South Range getting them and Gilmour not getting them.
South Range’s No. 7 hitter Gretchen Bartels blasted her first two home runs of the season — a three-run shot in the fourth and a solo shot in the sixth — to propel the 22-6 Raiders. Meanwhile, Gilmour left a small village (nine) runners on base, including five in scoring position, while getting two runners thrown out at home plate.
“Every time I looked out, we had (runners on) second and third or bases loaded,” Bondra said. “We knew they’d be strong on the mound and we came up with a plan as to how to hit their pitching. It worked to a certain degree. We just left too many kids on base.”
The teams traded scores in the early going, Lauren Riccobelli getting hit by a pitch in the third to force home Gianna Minotas with the bases loaded to give Gilmour the early lead.
Then Jamie Feren rifled a two-out triple to rightcenter in the bottom of the frame and waltzed home on Kelly Szolek’s single to right. In the fourth, South Range made its move. With two on, Bartles missed two attempts to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but then hammered a three-run homer to center for the 4-1 lead.
“I was going down and away to try and get a ground ball, but she got underneath it,” said Gilmour pitcher Megan Mlinaric. Did she ever.
“It was very exciting,” Bartles said. “I was frustrated with myself I didn’t get the bunt down. I told myself I have to do something for my team here, so I just swung the bat.”
The Raiders didn’t really need an insurance run in the sixth, but Bartles gave them one anyone with another homer, this one to left-center.
The game ended when Allison Schuh was thrown out at home on a tremendous throw from center field after Mlinaric’s single.
Mlinaric was also part of two other potential Gilmour rallies that fell short. Her liner to left in the fifth was flagged down by Giada
Pauline. If it would have fallen, Laney Klika would have easily scored. In the third, Mlinaric was intentionally walked to load the bases. While Riccobelli forced in a run by being hit by a pitch, Claire Peterson’s shot down the thirdbase line was snared to record the third out, robbing Gilmour of two or more runs.
“Those were differencemakers,” Bondra said of South Range’s defensive plays.
Gilmour made their share, too. Riccobelli snared a pair of hard shots at her at first base, and Schuh made a running
catch in the rightcenter gap to take away a South Range hit.
“I was kinda putting my glove out there and praying,” Riccobelli said with a laugh of her catches at first base.
South Range’s pitching tandem of Samantha Susany and Juli Stachowicz combined on a threehitter, striking out seven. Mlinaric scattered 11 hits, striking out one.
“It was a great tournament run,” Mlinaric said. “As a team, we made a big turnaround from 0-5 to this. It was great to see the team come together and do what we did.”