'I feel like it's everything': Mogadore wins first softball district title since 2011

DALTON — Wednesday's first few minutes were a nightmare for Mogadore.

Everything else was a dream come true for the Wildcats.

Thanks to impressive mental fortitude early, top-seeded Mogadore emerged with its first softball district championship since 2011 by topping second-seeded Dalton 11-1.

"It feels really good because we've worked so hard," said Wildcats junior ace Katie Gardner, who tossed a one-hitter. "It feels so good that we finally accomplished what we've been working for."

What she meant by the word "finally" didn't need any further explanation for those in pinstripes and Kelly green stirrups.

When Gardner was a freshman, Mogadore lost by two runs in the district title game. Last year, the Wildcats fell by a single run in the semifinals.

All of which made Wednesday's win even sweeter.

"I feel like it's everything," Wildcats senior second baseman McKenna Whitehead said. "We've worked so hard all season for it."

Katie Gardner, Olivia Kidd navigate early trouble

Wednesday's first few minutes were a bit of a nightmare for the Wildcats.

Up 1-2 on the leadoff hitter, Gardner lost her, issuing a walk as a few achingly close calls went against the ace. Then, Mogadore made back-to-back errors.

Somehow, despite Dalton's first three batters reaching, Gardner emerged having surrendered just a single run, sandwiching a pop-up between two strikeouts to escape any further damage.

Gardner was quick to credit her all-state catcher Olivia Kidd.

"It was really frustrating," Gardner said, "but Liv just calmed me down and I finally found it."

The truth was both Gardner and Kidd deserved immense credit as they figured out the strike zone and adjusted accordingly, retiring 15 of the Bulldogs' final 18 batters of the afternoon.

"They just work well together," Wildcats coach Jeff Fankhauser said. "If they don't get it figured out the first inning, the very next inning you can see communications going on in the dugout between the two of them saying, 'Hey, this is what we're going to do.' And they get it figured out quickly and it's very successful. It has been for us in the district run."

Momentum swung further in the bottom of the first when Kidd drove a two-out double to the left-field gap and sophomore Lily Hotchkiss ripped an outside pitch up the middle for a game-tying single.

"Getting back at them was what I wanted," Kidd said. "We needed to have a pick-up after the first inning we got out of, so I think that sent a message."

Momentum kept turning toward the Wildcats when Gardner worked around another leadoff walk in the second, this time stranding the Bulldogs' potential go-ahead run on third when she coerced an inning-ending line-out to first baseman Addie Christy.

"It shifted within that first inning," Fankhauser said. "Once we were able to get one back, I swear our girls, all of the sudden, you saw their demeanor come back and be like, 'No, this is fine, we got this.'"

Mogadore runs away in the second and third innings

And then the momentum turned entirely. The walks and errors the Wildcats suffered from early hit the Bulldogs.

Mogadore took full advantage.

After two walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases in the second, Gardner sent a chopper to third, and the throw home got away. Most teams would have scored one run in that situation, but Mogadore scored two, as Whitehead raced home as well to put the Wildcats ahead 3-1.

Soon after, Kidd extended her bat on a 1-2 pitch to send a chopper the Dalton second baseman couldn't quite corral to double Mogadore's lead to four.

The Wildcats, perhaps realizing the Bulldogs overcame a six-run top of the first two days earlier to make it to Wednesday's title game, never let their foot off the gas.

Freshman MJ Shellenbarger blasted a leadoff double to start the third and Whitehead put runners on the corners with a bloop single. After freshman Jayden Miller was hit by a pitch to load the bases, sophomore Gracie Funk fouled off a full-count pitch before watching the next sail just outside — a gutsy take to push the lead to five.

There was nothing close about the next at-bat as Gardner lashed a 1-2 pitch to the opposite-field gap as two more runs came home. Freshman Rylee Clark plated another run with an infield hit, Kidd tacked on Mogadore's 10th run with an RBI groundout and Hotchkiss set up the run-rule win when she reached on an error.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats played air-tight defense after their troublesome first, with Shellenbarger and Whitehead nicely handling a couple of grounders hit their way and Funk racing into the right-field gap for a nice catch.

"I know my team has my back," Gardner said. "So if they put the ball in play, most of the time, we can get out of it."

The turnaround was almost too wild to believe.

At 5:04 p.m., the Wildcats were in real trouble. At 5:07 p.m, they could breathe a sigh of relief as Gardner got out of the first. At 5:15 p.m., they were all tied up. By 6 p.m., they were district champions.

"I feel like we just know each other's abilities," Whitehead said. "We have to trust each other, hit each other in, make all of our plays, and then bounce back if we don't."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Katie Gardner's 1-hitter powers Mogadore to softball district title