'It's like finally ours': Rootstown tops Mogadore, takes big step toward outright title

MOGADORE — Shelbie Krieger's no-hitter was a masterpiece.

In maybe the biggest game of the season, the Rootstown junior was in command from start to finish.

Still, the Rovers had to score to capitalize and capture the Portage Trail Conference crown.

After six innings of getting plenty of runners on but not quite bringing them home, Rootstown broke through for four runs in the top of the seventh to top Mogadore 4-0 Monday afternoon. The Rovers (14-4, 8-0) thus clinched a third straight PTC title.

One more league win, against either St. Thomas Aquinas or Warren JFK, will make it outright.

"It's really good, feels great," Krieger said. "It's like finally ours."

While the title was the focus Monday, it was hard to ignore Krieger's dominance.

The junior retired 20 of 22 batters, had just three three-ball counts all afternoon and struck out 12.

"Definitely my curveball, I relied on that a lot today and that was moving well," Krieger said. "And then [I] hit that back with the riseball, and that was definitely a good combo for today."

All of which — the championship and the no-hitter — left a gleeful scene for a Rootstown team tired of sharing league titles after it split the last two with Mogadore (and the 2021 one with Garfield as well).

"This means everything to them," Rovers coach Paige Byers said. "This is something we've talked about for three years now is being outright league champs, and each year we've had to share, and it's just not as sweet. And this year, in that huddle at the end of the game, you could see it on their faces."

Jessica Hahn, Abby White, Shelbie Krieger spark winning rally

For the second straight season, Jessica Hahn helped bring a championship to Rootstown with a big hit.

Hahn, who delivered a game-tying homer in the seventh last year against Mogadore, helped snap six straight innings of scoreless softball Monday with a double to the left-field gap to lead off the seventh.

"On that pitch, I was seeing nothing but the fence," Hahn said. "I really wanted to start it off. I was like, 'Seventh inning, I'm ready to win this. This is our year. It's time.'"

Centerfielder Abby White followed Hahn's leadoff double with a well-placed bunt down the third-base line, with Hahn coming home when the throw to first got away.

"I was focusing on getting my friend in," White said. "Honestly, I just figured if I put it down, she'll be safe."

While White bunting wasn't a huge surprise, given her speed, Krieger's ensuing bunt surely was, given her powerful bat. Yet Krieger's sneak bunt was perfect, and she easily beat it out to put runners on the corners.

From there, Rootstown kept playing small ball — and bringing runs home.

First baseman Zoe Noel brought home the Rovers' second run with an RBI fielder's choice. Catcher Natalie Hammerschmidt knocked in a third run with a hard RBI single to third. Designated hitter Grace Luli capped the rally with a sacrifice fly.

For six innings, Rootstown had worked walks (eight in all), but Mogadore had gotten out of trouble time and time again, thanks to one gutsy pitch after another by Wildcats ace Katie Gardner.

"Our number one pitcher is struggling but she's still a bulldog," Wildcats coach Jeff Fankhauser said. "She's just keeping us in this game, just with sheer desire, and I was impressed."

Finally, in the seventh, the game broke the Rovers' way.

"Our philosophy was we were putting it in play," Byers said. "So it was just stick with our swings — we're hitting the ball hard; they will fall eventually — and it proved true in the seventh inning."

Mogadore turns toward OHSAA postseason

The Wildcats had just two baserunners, on an error and a walk, but in a strange way, they executed the game plan. After Mogadore failed to put a ball in play against Krieger for five innings the first time the teams met, the goal was to make contact and force Rootstown's defense to make plays.

The Wildcats did that, striking out just twice in the first two innings and six times in the first four. Compare that with 16 strikeouts in the first five innings when they faced Krieger in Rootstown.

The Rovers defense was up to the task, however.

Now, with its league title hopes essentially in the rearview mirror, Mogadore has to shift toward another part of its game plan — capturing a district championship.

For years, the Wildcats have come close on the district stage.

Fankhauser hopes the time is finally ripe this season.

"I'm like, 'Ladies, I got to be honest, I want a district title,'" Fankhauser said. "I said, 'This is our year. We've been training for this for a couple of years.'"

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Rootstown tops Mogadore, takes big step toward outright softball title