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Cards not in Columbiana’s favor

Columbiana’s Jillian Stilson fields a grounder past Cardinal Mooney’s Kelly Williams during a Div. III district final on Friday at South Range. (Salem News/Chris Rambo)

GREENFORD — For the second straight season, the Columbiana softball team saw its season cut short in heartbreaking fashion by Cardinal Mooney.

One year after losing to Mooney by one run in a sectional final, the Clippers had the Cardinals down to their last strike on two occasions in Friday’s Division III district final, but could not nail down the final out. Mooney rallied to tie the game in a seventh and eventually prevailed 3-1 in nine innings at South Range High School.

The second-seeded Clippers close the winningest season in program history at 24-2. The fourth-seeded Cardinals (who upset top-seeded South Range Thursday) advance to play second-ranked Champion in a regional semifinal at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Massillon High School.

“We had a fun season. With us losing four starters from last year, it was more than I ever expected,” Columbiana coach Jerry Beltempo said. “I don’t think anybody took us as seriously as they should have throughout the year. The kids worked hard and stuck with it. I thought they could get this one today but we just came up a little bit short.”

The Clippers carried a 1-0 lead into the seventh thanks to a very effective job done by pitcher Marisa McDonough (who gave up just two hits over the first six innings) and the Columbiana defense. Cleanup hitter Kayla Rutherford led off the inning with a clean single to left and Kelly Williams walked with one out to put the tying run in scoring position. However, McDonough got Adrianna Popovich to pop out, leaving just one out standing between the Clippers and the district title.

Sophomore Brooke Chandler was next up and worked the count full. She then sent a slow roller to the right side and barely beat the throw to first, loading the bases for freshman Katie Perry–the number-nine hitter. After McDonough again got two strikes, Perry stayed alive by fouling off two pitches.

“I was just saying to myself ‘Come on, one more,'” Beltempo said. “Give her (Perry) credit, she got some good swings up there.”

On the seventh pitch of the at bat, Perry hit a weak grounder to third and was safe on another very close play, allowing Rutherford to score the tying run. Williams got aggressive and tried to score all the way from second on the play, but was thrown out at the plate to preserve the tie.

“I knew we couldn’t give up any more runs if we wanted to have a chance so I just put my body out there and hoped I could get her before she touched the plate,” Columbiana senior Alexis Cross said.

The score stayed 1-1 until the top of the ninth when No. 5 hitter Bridget Sweeney sent a solo homer over the left field fence to put the Cardinals ahead. The Cardinals tacked on an insurance run on an RBI single by Perry. The Clippers went 1-2-3 in their half of the ninth.

Afterward, there were plenty of what-if’s for Beltempo to ponder.

The Clippers had runners on second and third with nobody out in the first but could not cash in. Their only run scored in the third when Emily Gosselin singled, stole second and scored on a single by Cross. However, they missed the chance for more when runners were left stranded at first and third. Columbiana also left a runner at third in the fifth and had runners thrown out trying to steal in the fourth and eighth.

“We left too many people on base and made too many mental mistakes,” Beltempo said. “We could have won, I thought we should have won but we didn’t. I’m proud of my team’s effort.”

Rutherford finished with 11 strikeouts and one walk for Mooney. The Clippers couldn’t have asked for much more out of McDonough, who held a Mooney lineup that clobbered the ball against South Range in check most of the game. The Cardinals put just one runner in scoring position until the seventh.

“I tried to keep the ball low most of the game against them, they’re a really good hitting team,” McDonough said. “This makes me want to come back next year stronger. We’ve lost to them (Mooney) the last two years. Next year, we’re gonna get past them.”

Game notes

¯ Before the season, Beltempo thought he had a solid team, but said the Clippers wound up playing significantly better than he thought as the season unfolded. With every starter except for shortstop Gillian Stilson returning, next year seems bright.

“I didn’t think we’d bad, but I didn’t think we’d be nearly this good,” Beltempo said. “We should be better next year.”

“I’m really excited to get started,” McDonough said. “I think we have a good group of freshmen coming up too, so we should be better.”

¯ Columbiana third baseman Kennedy Fullum made the defensive play of the game in the eighth when she dove to her left to stop a hard shot by Rutherford and was able to get to her feet quickly and make a strong throw to first.

¯ Taylor Ross went 2-for-4 with a double and a single for the Clippers, Gosselin was 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and a walk.

¯ Friday was Columbiana’s first district final appearance since 2011, when the Clippers advanced to the Div. IV state semifinals.

¯ The first pitch was moved back a half hour to 5:30 p.m. due to rain showers that moved through the area around 4 p.m.

¯ Mooney will face a steep challenge in the next round. Champion has won six state titles, with three coming in the last six years. Champion has eight regional titles to its credit and lost to South Range 6-1 in the regional semifinals last year.

CM: 0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-2–3-9-0

COL: 0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0–1-8-0

CM–Kayla Rutherford, wp, (9IP, 11K, 1BB) and Conchetta Rinaldi.

COL–Marisa McDonough, lp, (9IP, 3K, 2BB) and Alexis Cross.

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