AKRON — Wellington didn’t suffer shell shock after Hebron Lakewood tagged the Dukes for five runs in the top of the third inning.
The Dukes, particularly pitcher Melanie Conklin, kept their poise and prevented any snowball effect from kicking in following that disastrous inning.
But the outburst proved to be sufficient.
Wellington, in its first-ever bid to bring a state championship in any sport to the school, bowed to the top-ranked Lancers 5-3 in the Division III title game Saturday at Firestone Stadium.
Hebron Lakewood (32-2) won its first state softball championship. The Dukes finished 23-5.
“They can hold their heads high,” Wellington coach Tom Roth said about his players. If the score had been 5-0, and then it got to 8-0, maybe we say we don’t belong here. That’s not the way it happened.”
It did not happen primarily because Conklin retired 12 of the final 14 batters she saw following a three-run home run by Lindsay Barrett that made the score 5-0. Conklin faced just one more batter than the minimum after the homer.
But it was a couple of key plays that likely prevented the Dukes from hauling the big trophy back to Wellington. A throwing error on a sacrifice bunt in the third gave the Lancers a run they shouldn’t have had and set up a situation with runners on first and second with no one out and the leadoff hitter in the batter’s box.
“The No. 8 hitter walks and the No. 9 hitter gets on by error and we have two on and none out and the top of the order coming up,” Roth said. “You have to pitch tough to work out of a situation like that at the state level.”
An out at home plate as pinch runner Morgan Brasee tried to score from second on a single up the middle killed Wellington’s finest rally. That play might have especially stung because Melissa Rennie led off the next inning with a home run.
Brasee, pinch-running for Conklin, was out at home as center fielder Chelsea Riley picked up Cassie Gleisner’s bouncer up the middle and delivered a strike to catcher Barrett for the final out of the fifth inning.
“The ball wasn’t that deep and I took a chance by sending her,” Roth said. “If I had known Melissa was going to hit a home run, I would have held (Brasee) up. But you know what they say about hindsight.”
In fact, Roth did hold up Brooke Lewis twice in the seventh inning. Lewis was on second base with one out when Conklin singled over shortstop. Roth, respecting the arm strength of the Lancers’ outfielders, halted Lewis at third. Gleisner’s fly ball to shallow right field also failed to give Lewis a chance to score from third. Rennie’s groundout to short ended the season for Wellington.
Lakewood pitcher Alissa Birkhimer, an Indiana University recruit, limited Wellington to just one hit through four innings.
“She was quicker than what we had seen in the regular season,” Rennie said of Birkhimer. “She has a terrific riseball. Some of us took a step off the plate and found the holes.”
Sarah Wogan walked to begin the Lakewood third. Megan Swiantek bunted, but the toss to first was wide to give the Lancers two runners aboard for the team’s top hitters. Emily Voehringer’s double scored two and Riley’s bunt single put two on before Barrett belted her homer to left-center with one out.
Christy King was hit with a pitch and Brittany Gow walked with one out in Wellington’s fifth. Conklin smacked a double with two outs to make it 5-2. Rennie’s home run, her sixth of the season, was hit to left field on a full count.
Contact Steve Byrne at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. 

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