District Softball: North Ridgeville jumps all over Avon

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — As first innings go, not many teams could put together a better one than North Ridgeville did Wednesday in its Division I district championship showdown with Avon. Senior ace Autumn Behlke struck out the side in order to set the tone, then the Rangers scored seven runs in their half en route to a 13-1 victory in five innings. "We always want to jump out and get ahead," Rangers coach Amy McMillan said. "You know, we want to be in the driver's seat like that. Being the home team, we get the last at-bat, but these girls came in and they started from that first inning on and just punched it in there." North Ridgeville is just the third Lorain County team to win district championships in three consecutive seasons, and the first to do it since Elyria and Keystone won titles from 2017-19. It happened in dominating fashion. Behlke needed just 12 pitches to turn away Lauren Fischer, Emma Ody and Grace Mangan — three of Avon's top hitters. "Yeah, I mean, that's a great team on the other side," said Behlke, who reached 200 strikeouts for the season during the game. "You know, we played them pretty tough the last two games and I knew their hitters have faced me six, seven times this season, so it felt great (to start strong)." Naomi Bottomlee walked to start North Ridgeville's first, Molly Walton beat the throw for a bunt single and Behlke was intentionally walked to load the bases. After Avon starting pitcher Mallory Kayes was able to get the first out, the Rangers scored their first two runs with bases-loaded walks, then made it 4-0 on Ava Hoch's soft single to right field. Another bases-loaded walk with two outs made it 5-0, and North Ridgeville (17-3) scored its final two runs in the inning on an error. "We definitely didn't start like we wanted to," Avon coach Ken Matuszak said. "They only got one ball out of the infield and they scored seven runs. It was our fault. We had two errors, we walked a couple people … you can't do that against a team like that." Avon (15-13) answered with its lone run in the second inning. Lauren Robinson led off with a double to left-center, advanced to third on Amelia Holbrook's sacrifice bunt and came home when Sarah Perry singled up the middle. Natalie Thomas followed with a walk before Behlke set down the final 11 Avon batters. "(Behlke) was feeling it," McMillan said. "She goes out there with full control of the ball and she was grooving and she felt it, and her team feeds off that, as well. To do that, to get that confidence and feel good about it … it's huge. It pays off in the long run." While Behlke dominated in the circle, her teammates kept up the offensive onslaught. Bella Kucirek tripled over the left fielder to lead off the third and scored on Bottomlee's double to left-center, then Bottomlee came home on Allie Chinchar's sacrifice fly to right field. In the fourth, an error and back-to-back singles by Hoch and Kasey Timko set up Bottomlee, who unloaded the bases with another double to left-center. Walton completed the mercy-rule victory with an RBI single to center. Bottomlee went 2-for-2 with two doubles, a pair of walks, three runs scored and a game-high five RBIs. "The last couple of games, I think I've been trying too much to be the hero when really all I needed to do was focus on my teammates' support and just trust them," Bottomlee said. "I was just so happy to get the team going, get some runs and just give us some energy. So when I had those hits, it just made me super excited. It made me happy to be part of the team and help contribute to this win." The Rangers' third consecutive trip to the regional tournament follows their third straight Southwestern Conference championship — both feats that many thought improbable after North Ridgeville suffered heavy graduation losses after last season. "We're young … and I think maybe some people doubted us a little bit," McMillan said. "These girls didn't let that bother them. They put it upon themselves and the drive that they have … it's all on them. You can say so much as a coach, but ultimately they wanted this." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter. North Ridgeville 13, Avon 1 (5) Avon ab r &emsp;&emsp;h &emsp;&emsp;bi&emsp;&emsp;North Ridgeville&emsp;&emsp;ab r &emsp;&emsp;h &emsp;&emsp;bi Fischer 2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Bottomlee 2 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;5 Ody 2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Walton &emsp;&emsp;4 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;1 Mangan &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Behlke 3 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 Robinson&emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Chinchar &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 Holbrook&emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Thibodeaux 2 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 Perry 2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;Dillon 2 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 Thomas &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Hoch 3 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;2 Konold &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Timko 3 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;0 Maxey 1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Kucirek &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 Thompson 1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp; Rattay 1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp; Kayes 0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp; Totals 15 1 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;Totals 24 13 11 11 Avon 010 00 — &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;3 North Ridgeville&emsp;&emsp;702 4x — &emsp;&emsp;13 11 0 2B — Bottomlee 2, Robinson. 3B — Kucirek. SAC — Holbrook, Maxey. SF — Chinchar. LOB — Avon 2, North Ridgeville 5. &emsp;&emsp;IP H&emsp;&emsp;R&emsp;&emsp;ER BB SO Avon Kayes (L, 5-6) 4 &emsp;&emsp;11 13 10 5 &emsp;&emsp;2 North Ridgeville Behlke (W, 13-3) 5 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;9 PB — Thibodeaux.