ONTARIO — Ontario sophomore Ellie Dawson likely leads the entire area in intentional walks.
Which kind of irks senior Morgan Pearson, who follows Dawson in the batting order. So, when Dawson was issued the free pass with one out in the top of the ninth inning in a tie ballgame with the Shelby Whippets, Pearson stepped to the plate determined to make it hurt.
She smacked a 3-run home run to centerfield to give the Warriors a 3-run lead which ended up being a nine-inning, 12-10 Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference victory over their Richland County rival.
“I do take that very personal,” Pearson said. “But I just focus on doing my job in that moment. Everyone knows Ellie is a great hitter and that I can be a good hitter, too. When they put me in that spot, it is my time to shine. I focus on putting the bat to the ball and if it goes out, it goes out.”
It ended up being Pearson’s 10th home run of the season and her 32nd RBI as she finished the game with three hits and three RBIs to lead an offensive outburst. Dawson and Saylor Smith had two hits and two RBIs apiece while Brinlee Kreger had one hit and three RBIs and Kylie Corwin had one hit and one RBI. Callie Fagan added two hits and Sophie Schuster, Lillian Gray and Brylie Ireland had one apiece as every batter in the Ontario lineup collected a hit.
Pearson’s homer was the second of two clutch home runs by the Warriors. Trailing 9-8 heading into the seventh inning, the Warriors needed a run to keep their victory hopes alive. Smith smashed a solo shot to lead off the inning which eventually sent the game into the extra inning. It was the kind of perseverance Ontario coach Jamee Burke has seen all year from her team.
“I saw the same fight we have had all year,” Burke said. “I still believe we were not ourselves in our first and second games of the season and once we took the pressure off and the girls stopped believing they had to do everything themselves, we turned things around.
“The bottom of our lineup in the last two weeks has really taken the pressure off the top,” Burke added. “They have allowed them to swing freely. Our pitching is complementing each other and we are just playing team softball right now.”
The Whippets (17-4) faced an uphill battle before they even arrived at the ballpark. Their school went into a level 2 lockdown during the school day that was enough to rattle anyone and they were without starting shortstop and clean-up hitter Braylee Sturts after she was in an automobile accident on Monday evening.
They committed three errors in the outfield battling the sun and wind.
“There were a lot of uncontrollables tonight,” Shelby coach Samantha Martin said. “The girls are all best friends and when one goes down, they all feel it. We had a little meeting when we got to the field just to try and pick each other up and raise morale. I was proud of the way my girls reacted to everything.”
Natalie Kennard led the Whippets with three hits while Karlie Walp, Kendall Bowman, Elise Mullins, Kerryn Seibert, Liberty Lewis and Makenna Moyer had two hits apiece and Jordyn Thauvette had one. Bowman had three RBIs while Lewis and Moyer had two apiece and Walp had one. They produced enough offense to win, but defensively, they were not their usual selves.
“I have confidence that my girls can win any game,” Martin said. “They just need to take in what happened today and let it go and come back the next day and win that day. We have adjustments to make. We hit the ball hard, but were not ourselves defensively, so once we get back to ourselves, I feel very confident.”
With the win, Ontario (17-4) inched closer to the No. 1 seed in the district tournament likely needing another win over Shelby to overtake the Whippets for the top spot. They went into the two-game series as if it were postseason time.
“We are right behind them in the RPI right now,” Burke said. “So, this series is extremely important for that. Getting the girls to buy in that if we can sweep Shelby, we can get the No. 1 seed, so we are approaching this like playoff softball at this point.”
It’s how Pearson, who is seeing her senior season approach the end, is taking every game from now on.
“We came in believing this is a must-win game for several reasons,” Pearson said. “And we want Game 2. This is always a big game so we can put ourselves in the best position to win a district championship and it starts with this series.”
Burke sees the No. 1 seed as an important get for the Warriors.
“The No. 1 seed could take a bye right into the district semifinals against a team from our area, or from out west,” Burke said. “It is kind of important to get that No. 1 seed because you can kind of decide your tournament route, and that is always a good spot to be in.”
The two teams are scheduled to meet again on April 29 for the series finale at Ontario.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Pearson’s 9th-inning homer leads Ontario to thrilling win over Shelby
Reporting by Jake Furr, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
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