'If I call you in, it's got to get down': Mogadore softball's focus on bunting pays off
MOGADORE — Jeff Fankhauser calls it the "Shelbie drill."
In his mind, anyway.
When the Mogadore softball team works on bunting at practice, the coach thinks about one of his team's leading obstacles year in and year out: Rootstown flamethrower Shelbie Krieger.
"It's funny because we practice bunts for her," Fankhauser said of the Miami (Ohio) commit. "We were like, 'Hey, she throws hard. We need to get the ball in play.'"
Put the ball in play. Somehow. Someway.
Sure enough, the Wildcats dropped down 10 bunts as part of Monday's 5-0 victory over the Rovers at Lions Park.
"We'll work on bunting every practice," Fankhauser said. "In my mind, I call it, 'The Shelbie Drill,' and that's the respect that I have for her because, just, she throws hard."
Mogadore — 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the Portage Trail Conference with a win Tuesday over Lake Center Christian — bunted early and often Monday.
The Wildcats dropped down four bunts in the third inning, when they got their first run across.
Mogadore bunted in every inning but the first against Krieger.
Not that all of the Wildcats' hard work on bunting is solely about Krieger.
Fankhauser's focus also stems back to last year's regional semifinal loss to Mathews.
"There were two times we could have laid down a bunt and we didn't and that could have changed the momentum that we had there," Fankhauser said. "This year, everyone — 1 through 14, if you're on the team — needs to be able to bunt, because if I call you in it's got to get down."
Mogadore's masterful execution
The bunts got down Monday.
The Wildcats' first run started with a beautiful bunt by first baseman Addie Christy to lead off the third as the ball seemed to die right in front of the plate.
After taking second on an error, Christy came around to score on two more bunts, one apiece by third baseman MJ Shellenbarger and shortstop Lily Hotchkiss. The latter's came with runners on the corners and one out. Hotchkiss got it down perfectly and, when the throw went to first, Christy sprinted home for a 1-0 lead.
"We just work on it a lot," Hotchkiss said of her bunt. "We're a really good team and we know that we would do anything to help our team."
Mogadore's three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth — which turned a nail-biter into a more comfortable win — also began with a bunt as second baseman Jayden Miller popped one down the third-base line. Centerfielder Gracie Funk followed by slapping a single up the middle and, with runners on second and third, Katie Gardner sharply sent a low pitch up the middle to double the Wildcats' lead from two to four.
"It changed everything," Fankhauser said. "Two to four, all of the sudden that's a big lead going into the seventh."
Bunts and hustle meant everything Monday.
Indeed, of the three innings in which Mogadore scored, two started with a leadoff bunt and the other began with Olivia Kidd beating out strike three in the dirt. A teammate in the dugout joked she had never seen Kidd run that fast. And then the senior did it again, stealing third (sliding perfectly under the tag) and scoring on Hotchkiss' bloop single.
"I love running the bases," Kidd said. "That's one of my favorite things to do."
Kidd helped the Wildcats double their lead from one to two. Gardner helped them double it again with her rip up the middle. All of which made for an especially big lead with Gardner in the circle, as the senior tossed a three-hit shutout, coercing pops with her change-up and firing heaters on the outer black whenever necessary.
"It's kind of nice because [catcher] Olivia [Kidd] and Katie just work their magic all the time," Fankhauser said. "I just sit back and let it happen."
Good at all times, Gardner was somehow better when in trouble, ending the fourth, fifth and sixth innings with called strike threes, all with at least one runner in scoring position.
"I focus," Gardner said. "I lock in because I don't want them to score, so I just really focus on the batter."
Mogadore's focus will need to remain high with Southeast looming Thursday. The Pirates took the Wildcats to extra innings last year and upset the Rovers last week.
"We're just going to go in and play how we've been playing," Gardner said. "Just be excited. We like good games."
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Mogadore High School softball finds success playing small ball
