HARWELLPHOTO.COM
Columbiana sophomore Dakota DeAmicis slides underneath the tag of Mogadore catcher Presley Destro to score the Clippers' winning run in a Div. IV regional final. DeAmicis stole home with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 6-5 win.
KENT, Ohio – For the second straight year the Mogadore Wildcats are the Kent Division IV Regional runner-up. How they got that distinction, instead of one as regionl champion, was one of the strangest – and closest – plays to ever end a softball game.
With the game tied 5-5, and with runners at first and third and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Columbiana coach Bonnie Wilkinson decided to gamble.
After Mogadore (19-7) junior pitcher Kelsey Craig had delivered a pitch to Columbiana's Claire Brothers, senior catcher Presley Destro threw the ball back to her battery mate and Clipper pitcher Dakota DeAmicis broke home from third base. On the throw back from Craig, the umpire said DeAmicis got under Destro’s tag and Columbiana had a 6-5 victory.
It was the type of play that everyone in attendance wearing green thought DeAmicis was out and everyone wearing red was equally sure the right call was made. It was that close.
“It was a nice play on their part,” Mogadore coach Tom Pollock said. “It’s too bad somebody had to lose today. That’s how a game to go to states should be played.”
However, that doesn’t ease the pain for any of the Wildcats, at least not for a while, especially for Destro and her four senior teammates – Ashley Lange, Calee Ruppel, Rylee Popio and Amanda Christy – who came up just short of a trip to Firestone Stadium for a second year in a row.
“You almost wish it was a clear-cut hit and game over,” Pollock said. “Instead it was bang-bang.”
While the instant shock would have been lessened by a clear-cut loss, this game was never intended for that. On an afternoon in which both Mogadore and Columbiana (14-9) came from behind to take the lead twice and the two teams played as evenly as imaginable a clear winner wasn’t meant to be, neither team would allow it. After all, the lead changed in each of the final four innings at least once.
It was going to come down to one team making a clutch play or getting a break -- just one play.
The Clippers started the first inning with a vengeance as four of the first five batters recorded hits to push Columbiana out in front 2-0.
“They hit the ball well,” Pollock said. “After that first inning, we were lucky to be in the game.
“They played it that well.”
That’s where the score would stay until the top of the fourth inning when Ruppel, the Wildcats’ leadoff hitter, and Craig got back-to-back base hits. Lange followed later in the inning with a two-run double to center field that fell between the second baseman, shortstop and centerfielder.
Mogadore picked up where they left off in the fifth inning, when Popio, the team’s number nine batter, laced a one-out single back up the middle to score sophomore Katy Otto, giving the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.
“We got some big hits from the bottom of the lineup that helped us,” Pollock said.
The Clippers answered in the bottom half of the inning, when DeAmicis and second baseman Jordan Stoddard smacked back-to-back RBI singles, giving Columbiana back a 4-3 lead.
Mogadore would tie the game 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning on Lange’s third RBI of the game. Lange brought home Craig, who doubled to start the inning. The Wildcats would then take a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh inning as freshman Naomi Pollock and Popio hit back-to-back one-out doubles.
The Clippers tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when right fielder Meredith Tirpak smacked an RBI single that scored Mackenzie Logan and put DeAmicis on third to set up the winning play.