Hot Stove softball: Amherst Legends beat Oberlin North Stars to win Class A regional title

LORAIN — The fourth-seeded Amherst Legends used dominant pitching and aggressive baserunning to win 12-2 in a Class A (ages 9-10) Hot Stove regional championship Monday night at Campana Park over the Oberlin North Stars. Milana Kobasher-Elder started in the circle for the Legends and pitched the first three innings, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out seven and walking just one. Oberlin scored Kobasher-Elder out of the gate when Alivia Taylor reached on an infield single, moved up to third on a throwing error and scored on a wild pitch. The 1-0 lead for the Stars vanished quickly when Amherst put up the maximum five runs in its half of the inning. "We've practiced being aggressive all year long and it paid off in a game like today's. We just want to keep it going," Amherst coach Rylee McClintock said. "Milana can take a little time to get going, but when she does, she can be unhittable, and (Hailey) Fury has been dominant all year." Fury singled on the first pitch she saw and scored on an error. Raygen Fisher and Ava Rodriguez drew walks and scored on a steal of home and a wild pitch, respectively. Kennedy Spishak walked and scored on Kobasher-Elder's single to left, while Kendall White was hit by a pitch and scored the fifth run on a Myleah Jones ground out. Gia Fite went to the circle for the Stars in the second inning and allowed no more than two runs an inning the rest of the way, mixing in a solid changeup to keep the Legends off balance. Lacey Ables reached on a two-base error and scored on a wild pitch in the second, while two runs came home in the third for Amherst when Rodriguez walked and came home on White's inside-the-park homer (fourth on the season) on an opposite-field shot to the fence down the right-field line. McKenna Torres doubled in the fourth and scored on Fury's single. Fury scored on an infield single by Fisher. Oberlin managed another run in the third when Kalenna Levesque walked, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Alivia Taylor. The Stars (9-4-2) went down in order in the final two innings against Fury, who came on in relief and struck out the side in the fifth. She walked a batter in the sixth but it got wiped out on a double play and a grounder to first. Amherst sent the game to a 10-run mercy-rule in the bottom of the fifth when White was hit by a pitch for the second time and Aubrey Lozier walked. Both scored the final runs on a flare single to right by Jones. "It feels good to be part of what Oberlin is doing in softball now," Stars coach Anthony Gallam said. "We have the high school helping out with the softball program, so it's really cool to see the strides we are making as a program." The Legends (15-1) will face a familiar foe in the state semifinal in Spencer on Wednesday night, as they take on the only team to beat them, the Amherst Comets. The Comets improved to 14-0 after trailing for most of the game against Buckeye Nicolette Photography before scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth and walking it off in the sixth for a 9-8 win. In the fifth, Amherst got a hit by Kay Beach, a single by Aubree Morrow and an infield hit by Olivia Jama to erase an 8-5 deficit and tie the game. The Comets held Buckeye scoreless in the top of the sixth and only needed two batters in the sixth to win it as Brooklyn Clavette singled and scored the winning run on a full-count double by Lela Wegman. "We had a lot of heart the whole game. We just kept hitting in the clutch," Comets coach Shaun Duffala said. "We're looking forward to playing the Legends again. They are a great team and we played well with them during the season."