HIGH SCHOOL

Lakota tops SJCC for district softball title

Josh Morgret

FREMONT – Lakota coach Chris Chalfin didn’t really care how his team got the last out, as long as it was easy. However, it was fitting that senior pitcher Nikkia Cooper caught a soft popout from Fremont St. Joseph batter Dani Baez for the final out.

The Raiders pounded out 11 hits off SJCC pitcher Be Reardon to top St. Josephe Central Catholic, 11-3, in a Division IV district championship matchup of Sandusky River League teams on Friday at Fremont Ross.

“The strength of this team has been their hitting all year,” Chalfin said. “Fortunately, (we) kept plugging away and scoring runs here and there. We got a pretty good cushion where we knew we could give up a couple of runs late in the game and it wasn’t going to hurt us too bad.”

With the win, Lakota (19-5) advances to meet Van Buren in a regional semifinal at 5 p.m. Thursday at Findlay High School.

Cooper has pitched a majority of the year in place of Morgan Gangwer, who suffered an off-season injury.

“She told me to just do my best, to always try, and that my team will always have my back,” Cooper said of her classmate. “She’s been there with me the whole time.”

The Crimson Streaks (19-10) jumped on Cooper early. With two outs, Josie Weickert sent a deep shot to left field. Reardon and Natalie Zyski scored and Weickert ended up on third with a triple. She would score on a double by Callie Kelbley.

“I told them we’ve been here before because (Wednesday), we were down after the top of the second inning by three runs,” Chalfin said of the early deficit.

The Raiders responded in the second inning. After Reardon had put down the first four Lakota batters, consecutive singles by Cooper and Destiney Long-Meyer, and an error allowing Aspen Ray to reach, loaded the bases for Taylor Odom. She singled to left and a two-run single by Brianna Ray tied the game. Sam Miller grounded out but it allowed Odom to score to give Lakota a 4-3 lead.

“I thought if we put up a decent number (of runs), a handful or so, and play defense behind it, we’d be okay,” St. Joe coach Sarah Ottney said. “I think that a lot of their runs came off of our defensive errors, or misplaying balls. But every game, they put the ball in play and you can’t take that away from them.”

Cooper took over from there. She allowed a hit in the third, fourth, and fifth innings but no damage. Kelbley lead off the fourth inning with her second double. A sacrifice bunt moved her to third but Cooper got Molly Swint to ground out and struck out Hannah Riehl to end the threat of SJCC tying the game.

Lakota took advantage of the pitching of Cooper and put up some offense itself. Two runs came in on a two-run double from Miller in the fourth.

“I just wanted to put it in play and I hit it really far,” Miller said. “I was really happy and excited.”

The Raiders added two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth inning for a commanding 11-3 lead.

“That’s why I think we’re a pretty good team,” said Chalfin. “We hit good 1 through 9. Brianna Ray is batting ninth right now and earlier in the season she was batting fifth. All through the lineup, they’re pretty good hitters. The thing you always know is you always have a chance because they all can hit and all can score runs.”

Reardon registered a RBI double in the seventh inning and came in on a single by Ashley Burns but SJCC, who lost 3-2 and 10-0 earlier in the season to Lakota, was no match for the Raiders on this night.

“We were on base,” said Ottney. “We were making contact. We just didn’t have the timely hits we had in the first inning.”

Cooper allowed five runs on 10 hits and two walks while striking out seven and throwing a durable 125 pitches.

“She’s pitched well all year,” said Chalfin of Cooper. “That’s what we’ve been seeing all year. I thought (SJCC) would hit the ball well against us.”

Reardon, who will continue her collegiate career at Capital, gave up 11 runs on 11 hits in six innings.

“Be pitched a good game,” Ottney said. “She’s not perfect and nobody is. She’s going to hang a few and when she does, I expect our defense to pick her up on the field. That was not a bad game from her. I’m not upset with her in any way.”