High school softball: Midview's Jasmine Willis makes sure she has a happy birthday by tossing a gem against Amherst

EATON TWP. — Jasmine Willis knew exactly what would make the perfect gift for her 17th birthday Monday. "I was nervous at the beginning of the season, knowing that I played Amherst on my birthday," the Midview junior pitcher said. "But coming into it, I was really excited for the game today." Willis gave up a run to the Comets in the first inning, then shut down the six-time defending Southwestern Conference champions the rest of the game as the Middies rallied for a 2-1 victory. "I think she knew coming into the season that we had some big expectations for her," Middies coach Cassie Haight said. "I think the goal that we set this game was five strikeouts and she had (seven) of them. So she's got over 25 strikeouts in the last three games." Amherst (2-1, 1-1 SWC) applied pressure quickly as Nevaeh Sadler reached on a bunt single, stole second and came home to score when Lacie Stottlemire got caught in a rundown between first and second after the senior reached on an infield single. Willis gave up three hits in the inning, then allowed just three hits over the next six. None of the Comets' six hits left the infield. "We took a meeting at the (pitcher's) circle, just to calm down and stay together," Willis said. "We really don't want to keep being anxious when that happens because that's when they're just going to keep getting on and on and on. So we really just tried to stay as calm as possible and stay as up as best we could." While Willis flipped the switch and kept Amherst at bay, the Comets' Sierra Dorobek was equally impressive as she limited damage through the first four innings. Midview (3-0, 2-0) finally broke through in the fifth when Olivia Keenan led off with a single up the middle, Olivia DiFranco hit a one-out single to center and Leah DiFranco followed with another single up the middle to load the bases. Lilly Armold placed a bloop single perfectly into right-center field to score two runs. "This is a team where last year we were struggling in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings," Haight said. "This year one of our goals was to be able to finish just as strong as we started and they absolutely did that. We had bases loaded in multiple innings and we were able to produce some runs." Dorobek gave up nine hits but did a good job of spreading them around. She left a pair of Middies stranded in the first and third innings, and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. "Both pitchers threw well, and they kept us off balance and we never adjusted," Comets coach Lacey Reichert said. "We've gotta be able to score and we just didn't, we didn't get big hits. That's a credit to those girls over there in the Midview dugout. They pounded the ball in the one inning, got two runs and that's all they needed." With Amherst opening SWC play with a one-run victory over North Ridgeville — the Rangers and Comets have shared the conference championship the past two seasons — and with Midview scoring the narrow win over Amherst on Tuesday, it looks like the SWC title race could be a little wild this season. "It really could be," Reichert said. "I'm not even sure how good we are right now. We don't do things well that we need to, we don't get hits with runners in scoring position enough … you win a couple games and you're feeling good about yourself and then you come here and they took it to us. "Until we get big hits and adjust and have better approaches at the plate, we're going to continue to be in close games and we're going to continue to lose close games." Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.