NORTH RIDGEVILLE — When it comes to big postseason games in sports — in this instance softball — sometimes the simplest thing a team can do is lean on their ace pitcher.
And really, it’s that simple.
That’s what Dalton did on Saturday afternoon during their Division VI regional final versus Mogadore, as the Bulldogs rode the supreme right arm of their No. 1 starter Mei Simmons to the school’s second straight regional title in the Bulldogs’ (23-5) 3-0 shutout win over the Wildcats (16-7-1).
From the very first pitch thrown, it was pretty clear that Mogadore couldn’t get a feel for what the junior was working with. Simmons threw the full seven innings, produced 13 strikeouts, gave up just one hit, zero earned runs and one walk on 85 total pitches (65 of them strikes).
And this is coming off a regional semifinal win for Dalton over Hillsdale on Wednesday where Simmons threw another full seven innings, struck out 11 batters, gave up one earned run, five hits and had one walk on 117 pitches in earning the win.
Dalton head coach Rob Fiesler had this to say about his pitcher afterwards.
“Mei is like a cheat sheet. Having her as our pitcher, she’s just really dominant. When you get a lead, you know you can lean on her just to keep everything in control. She does a fantastic job. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Dalton met Mogadore in its very first game of the season and lost 3-2 on the road on March 25 but Simmons talked about how she wanted to approach it the second time around.
“They have some good hitters and I didn’t think I pitched my best game in the beginning of the season,” said Simmons, who now sits with a 16-3 record, 1.64 ERA and 228 strikeouts. “I made sure I worked on my different movement pitches and my change-up.”
Early on, Dalton wasn’t able to muster anything at the plate off Mogadore sophomore pitcher Natalya Bartholomew but it was able to manufacture some things on the base paths with some well-laid bunts to move runners. Leadoff hitter Hannah Wenger scored the game’s first run from third base on a wild pitch. Later on, catcher Kenna Doty drove in a run in both the third and fifth inning.
“I would say the biggest thing we took away from that first game was it was the first game of the season,” Fiesler said. “We were not as polished to say the least. We had a lot of work to do. We made some base running errors in that game. That was the difference-maker. That Bartholomew is a good pitcher. I knew once we got through the lineup two or three times our girls would pick up on it and actually have success. And we did.”
With Dalton grabbing a 2-0 lead after three innings, Simmons just cruised from there.
“It gave me a lot of confidence where if I made mistakes, I still had some runs to spare,” said Simmons, who said having a enough experience has helped her pitch well in these big postseason games. “Having a lead is a lot easier for me to go out there and do my thing.”
Advancing to their second straight state tournament appearance, Dalton has now won 21 of its last 22 games and 10 in a row as it enters Wednesday’s state semifinal in Akron as arguably the hottest team in Division VI.
“Playing together is our biggest thing,” said Simmons, on her thoughts on making it back to state. “I think we have to keep pushing even when things get hard and rely on each other.”
“We’ve really worked on baserunning and timely hitting. That’s been our focus this year,” Fiesler added. “These tight games come down to those two things, obviously with good pitching. We did a really good job with that down the stretch and this team is going to continue to excel at that this year and next season.”
jamessimpson@gannett.com
Twitter/X: @JamesSimpson II
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Back to State! Dalton, Simmons shutout Mogadore for second straight Div. VI regional title
Reporting by James Simpson II, Wooster Daily Record / The Daily Record
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