AVON LAKE — Midview’s young softball team won its 19th — and most important — game of the season Thursday.
The Middies, behind the pitching and hitting of junior Brittany Stone, nipped Avon Lake, 3-2, in a Division I sectional final. It was a nail-biter that wasn’t decided until the final out on a cold, gray afternoon.
With the win, the Middies advance to a North Ridgeville district semifinal against Amherst, the state’s seventh-ranked Division I team. Amherst dispatched Westlake 8-2 for the third time this season on Thursday.
The third-seeded Middies and second-seeded Comets are scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday on Ridgeville’s varsity diamond.
In the first game of a district doubleheader, top-ranked Elyria will clash with Magnificat on the same field at 4 p.m.
Midview (19-6) took a 3-0 lead Thursday with a big third inning. But the Shoregals scored a run in the bottom of the third, and with one out in the seventh, made it interesting. They put runners at second and third after pitcher Andi Nicholson singled and went to second when Midview couldn’t handle Ashley Forbes’ ground ball.
Nicholson and Forbes moved up on a wild pitch and Nicholson scored the Shoregals’ second run when Angela Decker grounded to the Middies’ Delaina DiVencenzo at second. Stone pitched out of the jam when she got the next batter to hit a routine line drive to Elizabeth Fazekas at shortstop.
“It was right at me, so I couldn’t really mess it up too bad,” said the junior Fazekas. “I mean, once it was heading right at me, I pretty much had it.”
Midview senior Courtney Burgess opened the big third inning with a single to left, the first hit off Nicholson, who had retired the first six Middies. Burgess moved up when senior Megan Snow beat out a bunt single. Heather Miller, running for Burgess, was forced at third as freshman Grace Turner reached on a fielder’s choice.
Snow and Turner moved up on a wild pitch, then both ran home as Stone, the leadoff batter, stroked a double to left. Ann Turner, another freshman running for Stone, moved to third when Erin Sunagel reached on a fielder’s choice. And Ann Turner scored the eventual game-winner when catcher Mindy Putt singled to center.
“We were confident when we came in here,” Snow said. “We thought we could win. We knew they were a good team, but we’re a good team too.”
Stone walked two Shoregals and struck out four. She had strong support from the defense, including a play by first baseman Sunagel, who stretched for a throw and scooped it out of the dirt to retire Rachel Maxwell in the sixth inning. Avon coach Kevin Atkins thought the call could have gone the other way. The Middies also got two key catches in right field from freshman Sydney Mencke.
“I wasn’t worried at all,” said Stone of the Middies’ seventh-inning pickle. “I have all the confidence in my team. We’ve played well all season and I feel comfortable with them behind me. The defense is solid behind me and that lets me relax more.”
Avon Lake (12-9) got another strong pitching job from Nicholson, who struck out nine and walked no one for the second straight game. She surrendered five hits, four in the third inning.
“Our defense played very, very well today,” Middies coach Mike Ives said. “(Assistant coach) Mike Snow did a great job tonight of calling pitches, as he always does. We seemed to keep them off balance all day. We just battled every inning. We were ready to play today.”
Atkins liked the fact the Shoregals put themselves in a position to catch up.
“But in a game like this, three runs is a lot of runs,” he said. “Had we not allowed that (third) run to score, we would have been in good shape. We played hard. I’m proud of our team and our seniors.”   

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