Money Miley: Birthday girl leads Colts to Division II district semifinal win over Norwalk

WILLARD — Miley Shafer couldn't have driven herself to the ballpark if she had to. With our without a parent.

The Clear Fork freshman pitcher celebrated her 15th birthday on Tuesday night with a dominant performance in the circle leading the Colts to a 2-1 Division II district semifinal win over Norwalk in Willard. Shafer already has a sectional championship win, a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference title victory and a district tournament win all before she's received her driver's permit.

Shafer tossed a complete-game gem, allowing one unearned run on three hits with eight strikeouts to help the Colts advance to Thursday's district championship game against Lexington at 5 p.m. at Willard. Admitting she was nervous, she sure didn't show it.

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"(The nerves) were through the roof," Shafer said. "I felt like I handled them well, though, knowing I had a great defense behind my back. Our offense got us through and our defense played lights out."

Shafer started the first batter down 3-0 in the count before battling back to record the strikeout and then setting down the rest of the side herself to open the game.

"It calmed them down a lot," Shafer said. "I came in not really knowing how well I was going to do being a freshman against a very good team. I threw my best game."

Clear Fork coach Chris Clapper wasn't surprised with Shafer's composure.

"I have coached her since she was 8 years old and she has always been the most composed player on the team," Clapper said. "She is great at fielding her position."

Not only did Shafer collect eight strikeouts but she assisted on three groundouts and caught two pop-ups, accounting for 13 outs herself. With the Colts struggling to put the ball in play, it was nice to have Shafer there to shut things down defensively.

"Sometimes, we lose confidence when we aren't hitting the ball like we are used to," Clapper said. "But when Miley goes out and pitches like that, it really keeps our team up."

The Colts got on the board in the bottom of the first inning when Mel Blubaugh reached on a bunt single and took second base on a late overthrow to first. She moved up to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball with two outs.

After seeing Norwalk tie things up in the sixth after a throwing error with two outs allowed a run to score, the Colts responded right away with a run in the home half of the inning. Freshman Hailly Thrush reached base on an error before stealing second to get into scoring position. Freshman Addison Schlosser laid down a slap bunt and forced a rushed throw to first with two outs and Thrush crossed the plate as the ball trickled into right field for the game-deciding run.

"Playing small ball and causing chaos is a big key to our success," Clapper said. "Anytime we can put pressure on the defense, I like our chances. I called that play with two outs because I trusted who was in the box and on second."

With two freshmen teaming up for the game-winning run and a freshman in the circle, Clapper put his trust in his youngsters to make plays in the biggest game of the season which included sticking with Shafer to pitch the Colts to victory.

"They aren't freshmen anymore," Clapper said. "They have been in the starting lineup since Day 1 and she has had the ball all year so no sense in changing it now."

The Colts (17-7) move on to play a familiar foe in Lexington (25-2), which won 7-1 over Ontario in the first semifinal game of the night, for the district championship. The Colts lost to Lex 8-7 on March 29 and 11-9 on April 13 after scrimmaging on March 22, a 15-6 loss in the preseason.

The Colts are hoping the fourth time is a charm.

"They are a really, really good team," Shafer said. "They are all tough outs so I am going to really have to hit my spots on Thursday. We have to clean up the mental mistakes and limit them. We can't let them turn into more, especially against a really good pitcher like Makaree (Chapman)."

jfurr@gannett.com

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@JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Clear Fork Colts beat Norwalk Truckers in Division II district semifinal softball