District softball: Amherst beats Shaker Heights to win championship game

AVON LAKE — Senior second baseman Makenna Dorobek and junior pitcher Karina Shuster of Amherst were feeling the vibe and it was just a matter of time before things busted loose for the Comets in Thursday's Division II, District 5 championship game against Shaker Heights. The two Amherst veterans were catalysts in the Comets' 11-0 rout of Shaker Heights in five innings. It was Amherst's third straight district championship and fifth district title win overall since 2016. Amherst (18-10 overall) advances to the regional semifinal to face Twinsburg Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Berea-Midpark. Twinsburg was a 2-1 winner over Brecksville in its district title game. Shaker Heights finished the season with an 11-8 record. Dorobek broke open a scoreless game with a two-out, three-run homer over the left-center field fence in the bottom of the third inning. Shuster was magnificent on the mound, giving up just one infield hit while striking out 10. She didn't walk anyone as she improved to 17-7. "They walked Leah Sprague and as a senior I was trying to get a base hit," said Dorobek. "Obviously, I did more than a base hit. I was just happy that my team gets to advance to the regional." It was Dorobek's fourth home run of the season. Alexis Fenton opened the fourth with an infield hit. One out later, Sienna Rebman sacrificed Fenton to second. Raiders senior pitcher Scout Harvey intentionally walked Sprague before Dorobek homered on a 1-2 pitch. "I try not to take it as pressure," said Dorobek. "It is a lot of pressure but I just try and keep breathing, stay calm, because I know that they look up to me. Once we get that big hit, we just kind of like to string hits along and we're just up from there." Clutch is a great way to describe Dorobek's hitting as a late. She also had a two-out, run-scoring single in the fourth. She drove in three runs with two out in Amherst's 4-1 district semifinal win over Massillon. "It just had that feeling that it was going to take that one big hit to loosen everybody up and get everybody going," said Amherst coach Lacey Reichert. "Makenna was the one that did it. As Makenna was rounding third, I said to her, 'That's what seniors do.' She's been hot the last three weeks. She has some pop, that's for sure." Dorobek credited Shuster for keeping Amherst in the game with a standout performance. "We rely heavily on her and we trust her and know that she's going to keep us in games," said Dorobek. Thursday's game marked Amherst's 10th straight district title game appearance. "We have a chance to make it far this year," said Shuster. "I feel like we're very together as a team. We're always working to be our best. We were able to string some (hits) together because we're confident in ourselves and we know that we have each other's backs. Our coach always reminds us to stay in the game, don't relax and stay confident in ourselves. We know how to play. It feels really great to go this far again and hopefully we can go even farther." Dorobek's three-run blast ignited a surge that carried over to the fourth, when Amherst sent 13 batters to plate and scored eight runs, five of them with two out. Freshman catcher Morgan Lymer scored from third with the bases loaded for the first run, when shortstop Emerson Miller couldn't handle Briana Blankenship's ground ball. Rebman followed with a two-run hit to left, scoring Sam Pearch and Fenton. Dorobek and Shuster followed with run-scoring singles. Lymer was then safe when third baseman Melanie Fogerty was unable to field her ground ball, scoring Dorobek. After Kayla Rhodes walked, Pearch singled to left to bring home the final two runs of the inning. "When you hit the ball and put pressure on teams, a lot of times good things happen," said Reichert. "It was like a perfect storm that fourth inning. That's what we told them in pregame, and we've been saying it in the last few games at practice, that if we get up on a team and we have opportunities to add to it you have to do it, especially in tournament ball, because anything can happen. "We've been playing good defense the past couple weeks. That's what we tell the kids. The defense has to stay consistent and constant. The hitting is going to come and go. The hitting might be streaky, but the defense can't be. Karina was outstanding as the game went on, even when it was 0-0. She just had that confidence that she was going to keep us in there. "We've got a lot of young kids. Is the moment going to be too big next week? You never know. Or is it going to be that they don't know any better and they're going to come out loose and play? We play in a tough conference and we schedule a tough non-conference for this moment, for next week." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.