Hot Stove softball: Elianna Duke throws no-hitter to lift Firelands into state semifinals

LORAIN — Elianna Duke was unhittable Tuesday. The Firelands ace pitched a no-hit, 18-strikeout gem to lead the Falcons past North Ridgeville, 10-3, in the Hot Stove softball Class B regional final at Campana Park in Lorain. No. 6 seed Firelands will face No. 3 Midview — which defeated Amherst 5-4 in its final Thursday — in the Class B semifinals at J.B. Firestone Memorial Park tonight at 6 o'clock. The winner will advance to the championship Thursday at 8:30 p.m. "I got a lot of support on the field and in the dugout, so that helped a lot," Duke said. "I just tried to pitch my best and block everything out. I just take deep breaths, relax and think of the positives, just try to find out what I did wrong on the previous pitch and adjust." Duke stymied No. 2 North Ridgeville all night. The Yellowjackets only put the ball in play twice — one groundout and one flyout. The other non-strikeout came on a pickoff. Aside from that, the only baserunners came on the 10 walks and three hit batters issued by Duke. "I mean, how often do you see a 12-year-old throw a complete-game no-hitter, seven full innings?" North Ridgeville coach Russell Lake said. "It's one of the best performances I've seen. And the thing is, we're a good hitting team. We've been hitting for weeks. She just did everything right. She moved the ball around the zone, got strikes when she needed to. She just pitched an absolutely brilliant game." The Yellowjackets did take a 1-0 lead thanks to an unearned run in the second, but Firelands responded with four in the bottom half of the inning. Lilah Jordan drew a leadoff walk for the Falcons and scored on a wild pitch two batters later. That emptied the bases with two outs, giving the Yellowjackets an opportunity to end it there, but back-to-back walks plus a hit batter loaded the bases for Morgan Bartley. She gave Firelands a 4-1 lead with a shot into left field for a bases-clearing triple. "Morgan has been a power hitter all year for us," Firelands coach Alyssa Jordan said. "When she gets a hold of the ball, she never lets you down. When she has runners on base, she always pulls through." North Ridgeville's Eva Mentler drew a walk in the fifth and scored on a wild pitch, cutting the Falcons' lead to 4-2. However, Firelands responded with two in the sixth and four in the seventh, including a two-run single by Duke. The first two Yellowjackets batters reached on a walk and a hit batter and they got one run, but Duke struck out the side to close the door. "I can't say how proud I am of the North Ridgeville Yellowjackets," Lake said. "It's an excellent group of girls. We're one of the youngest teams in the division, so we have a really bright future going forward to next year. I'm so proud of how they fought and how they competed. They were still jumping up and down in the seventh inning, trying to find a comeback. You can't ask for more out of a group of kids. They gave it all they had all the way through." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.