LAGRANGE — It was the game of the tournament to this point and one that neither team should have had to lose.But in a memorable pitchers’ duel, Midview Royal Sports scored an unearned run in the top of the seventh inning to nip North Ridgeville 1-0 in an OGSO Class B (ages 12 and under) district final Friday night.
It took a perfect game by Royal Sports pitcher Kim Stone to offset a 17-strikeout one-hitter by Ridgeville’s Nicole Andrews before a big crowd at LaGrange Community Park. It was Stone’s second perfect game of the season.
When Audra Clapper ran home with the eventual winner, it earned a bid to the OGSO state tournament next weekend for undefeated Royal Sports, which won its 18th consecutive game. It also exacted a measure of revenge for Midview, which lost to the same Ridgeville team three times last year, including the state final.
In the only other game of the night, Medina claimed a Class B state tournament bid with a 5-0 victory over Amherst as Shelby Henderson hit two doubles. The tournament concludes this afternoon with a Class D (18-and-under) semifinal and four district title games. The winners also advance to the state tournament.
Clapper, whose hard-hit liner was too hot to handle, reached first base with one out in the Midview seventh. She stole third, then slid home in a swirl of southern Lorain County dust after a wild pitch.
“You kinda wait to make sure you can get in,” Clapper said of the wild pitch. “Then you just go as fast as you can. This is an amazing feeling. Nothing can describe it. It means a lot.”
Andrews no doubt deserved better. Except for the sequence involving Clapper, she pitched a perfect inning and struck out the side. Stone, who fanned 11, pitched a 9-0 perfect game against Columbia during the regular season. She throws a fastball, flip change-up, drop and a change-drop.
Did she know she had a perfect game going into the bottom of the seventh?
“Yes, I did,” said Stone.
Was she nervous? Yes, she said, but not because of the perfect game.
“I was nervous because we were wanting revenge on them,” Stone said. “It was my chance to get revenge for the way they beat us last year. I just wanted to win the game. This gives me a good feeling inside.”
A little known — and exceptionally rare — fact is Stone’s pitches are called not by coach Matt Thomas or any of his assistants, but by catcher Lexi Smith. It is unusual, even at the varsity softball level, for a catcher to call pitches. It is almost always the head coach or pitching coach who handles the job.
“It depends on where the batter stands in the box, what she did her last time at bat and what she did in other games,” Smith said. “If she’s standing up in the box, we’ll throw a change or a screw a lot of times. If she backs up, we’ll pitch her outside.”
Stone ended the game with a three-pitch strikeout.
“Fastball, fastball, fastball all inside,” said Smith.
“Never in a million years would I have dreamed we’d see this kind of game,” said Thomas, whose team defeated the Lady Rangers 16-3 during the regular season. “They came ready to play and my hat’s off to them. When the kids heard we got North Ridgeville, they were happy, not because they were overconfident or thought it would be easy, but because they wanted to prove they could beat them.”
Ridgeville’s Andrews hurled 2? perfect innings. It wasn’t until Midview’s Kate Thomas singled with two outs in the third that either team had a baserunner. It was the only hit of the game.

OGSO district tourney

Friday’s results
Class B (12-and-under) finals

Midview Royal Sports 1, North Ridgeville Lady Rangers 0
Medina Heat 5, Amherst Nitros 0

Today’s games
Class D semifinal

Sheffield vs. Wellington, 10 a.m., Field 5

Class D finals, 1 p.m.
Winners to state tourney

Sheffield-Wellington winner vs. Midview North, Field 5
Medina vs. South Amherst, Field 4
Litchfield vs. Lorain, Field 3
Amherst vs. Oberlin, Field 2

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