NORTH RIDGEVILLE – One of the best small-school softball rivalries in Ohio was renewed Wednesday afternoon at North Ridgeville High School.
Unfortunately for the Hillsdale Falcons, the reboot against Dalton was just as tough to swallow as the rest of the recent history.
In a rare Sweet 16 rematch, the Bulldogs plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth, then stranded the game-tying run on second base in the top of the seventh to survive a 3-1 Division VI classic.
It was the sixth win in a row over Hillsdale (19-8) for Dalton (22-5) – three in each of the last two seasons – and it sends the Bulldogs into a regional championship game Saturday against Wednesday’s Mogadore vs. Columbia winner.
“We took the approach that we were not playing Dalton, that we were just playing another team,” said second-year Hillsdale head coach Nicole Smith, whose squad was ranked No. 9 in the division by MaxPreps. “… That was our focus throughout the entire week; we didn’t mention Dalton’s name, didn’t mention their colors or anything like that – just focusing on what we needed to do as a team.
“We kept pushing all the way through,” she added. “… I was happy with our performance, I just wish we could have gotten more for the seniors.”
Dalton, ranked No. 7 by MaxPreps, has won 20 of its last 21 games after starting the spring 2-4.
Bulldogs junior ace pitcher Mei Simmons worked around nearly all the baserunning traffic she faced throughout the day, as the Falcons stranded eight runners – at least one in each of the last six innings.
The right-hander gave up five hits and four walks, but she totaled 11 strikeouts. The last of those ended the game with Hillsdale’s Ally Morgan (2-for-2, double, run) on third and Emily Smith on second hoping to tie it up.
Simmons improved her ERA for the season to 1.73, moving to 15-3 in the circle with 215 strikeouts in 125.2 innings pitched.
“We stopped trying to guess where she was going to throw it and just went up there thinking, ‘See the ball, hit the ball,’” Smith said. “It was probably one of our better outings against her, we just couldn’t score when we had runners in scoring position.”
Hillsdale was the first to get on the scoreboard, going ahead 1-0 in the top of the third. Morgan dropped a bloop double into left, then scored on a two-out bloop single to left from Kiki McFadden.
Falcons pitcher Macy Mager kept Dalton’s offense at bay through the first three innings, but the Bulldogs tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Skylar Fletcher knocked in Kenna Doty with a single.
Jordyn Fickes made a diving catch in center field after that to help limit the damage and Mager and Simmons kept things locked at 1-1 until the sixth.
In that inning, Kennedy Fickes scorched a leadoff double to left-center for Hillsdale, but she was left standing at third when the Falcons were unable to get another ball past the pitcher’s circle.
Dalton seized the game’s best opportunity from there, as Simmons led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and Doty followed with a ringing RBI triple to right-center.
Mager enticed back-to-back popouts to second base, but the second of those was just deep enough to score Doty from third to make it 3-1.
Hillsdale made it a nail-biter in the top of the seventh, with Morgan walking and Smith dropping in a bloop single. But the rally stopped there.
The Falcons finished their season a perfect 19-0 when scoring at least seven runs in games, but were 0-8 when they didn’t get to that mark.
Seven of their eight losses were to district champions.
“If the girls started hitting the ball in games, it seemed to feed to everyone else and they would all start hitting,” Smith said.
“It wasn’t like we lost to any teams we shouldn’t have lost to. … When you’re facing a good team, any team can win at that point.”
Mager had a stellar outing Wednesday, scattering six hits, striking out six and allowing just one walk in her complete-game effort. She entered the day with a 2.64 ERA, finishing with a 9-3 record and 111 strikeouts in 64.1 innings.
“She was ready to go and I thought she pitched a very good game,” said Smith of Mager, who didn’t start against the Bulldogs in the season’s earlier matchups – 3-2 and 6-0 Dalton wins. “We had talked pitching strategy with Macy and knew we had to be very careful with some of their hitters and she did her job.”
Mager was one of five Hillsdale seniors who played their last game, a group that also featured Kennedy Fickes (committed to play at Ohio Northern University), Emma Linder (will play at Olivet College), Morgan and Aurora Martin.
Those seniors helped extend the Falcons’ streak of making the district finals to five consecutive seasons and the team has won at least 18 games in each of the last four years.
Smith lauded Martin’s performance as a first-year varsity catcher. The senior batted .358 for the year with 27 runs scored and another 11 driven in.
Kennedy Fickes was one of the team’s most clutch hitters, batting .440 with 40 hits, including 11 doubles, 5 homers, 28 runs and 27 RBIs. She also was 6-3 with a 2.63 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 48 innings from the circle.
Morgan, who Smith said was one of her best leaders on the field, finished with a .333 average, scoring 23 runs and driving in 18.
Linder, meanwhile, totaled 10 hits, 12 runs and a .500 on-base percentage as one of Smith’s go-to players off the bench.
“The girls kept the intensity up today and I think that’s what kept us going,” Smith said. “It could have been our day if we had hit the ball when we had runners in scoring position.”
A win Saturday for Dalton would advance the program to its second consecutive Final Four appearance. The Bulldogs are chasing their first state title since winning back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007.
