BELLVILLE — Jeff Gottfried doesn’t need a stopwatch. Clear Fork’s veteran coach trusts his eyes.
What Gottfried’s eyes have told him for the past three-plus seasons is that leadoff hitter Taylor Kline is fast.
And not just game-changing fast, but once-in-a-generation fast.
Going into Tuesday’s Ohio Cardinal Conference showdown with league-leading Ashland, the Richland Source Athlete of the Week had 29 stolen bases in 17 games. She set Ohio’s single-season record with 72 stolen bases last spring and swiped 60 as a sophomore. She already is the state’s career stolen bases leader with about half of her senior season yet to play.
For the record, the left-handed hitting Kline has been timed from home to first base in 2.5 seconds. Not many high school players — or college players, for that matter — get down the line as quickly as Kline.
“Having Taylor at the top of the lineup is like putting the key into the ignition,” Gottfried said. “She jump-starts everything for us.”
To call her Clear Fork’s spark-plug would still be doing her a disservice. Kline was hitting almost .700 through the first month of the season. And every base hit invariably turns into a triple as teams are powerless to stop her from stealing second and third.”
“She is a weapon,” Madison coach Tim Niswander said after Kline stole five bases in Clear Fork’s 7-3 win over the Rams earlier this month. “She can almost manufacture runs by herself.”
Clear Fork’s game-plan isn’t exactly a well-guarded secret. Gottfried said any time Kline gets aboard she has the green light to steal.
“Everyone knows it’s coming, but knowing it and stopping it from happening are two different things,” Gottfried said. “You can’t hold her on base, like in baseball.
“A lot of people think she leaves early, but they don’t realize how fast she is.”
So how fast is she?
Ridge Winand, the center fielder on Clear Fork’s baseball team who is headed to Ohio State as a preferred walk-on, is one of the fastest players in Richland County. When asked who would win in a race between her and her high-profile classmate, Kline liked her chances.
“I’d bet on me,” Kline joked. “The track coach is always bugging me to go out for track and I love to run, but track season and softball season are at the same time and softball is my first love.”
Kline is headed to Division II Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, where she will join former Clear Fork teammate and All-Ohioan Taylor Thomas. Kline is a middle infielder — she played second base her first three years before transitioning to shortstop this year — but Gottfried could see her moving to the outfield at the next level.
“With her speed, she would be a weapon,” Gottfried said. “We moved her to shortstop because we wanted her to have the ball in her hands as much as possible. It’s like in basketball when you have a kid who can score 25 points in a game. You want that kid to have the ball.”
The Colts fell to Ashland 6-2 Tuesday afternoon, slipping four games behind the unbeaten Arrows in the OCC standings. A conference title may be out of reach, but an extended postseason run may not be out of the question. Clear Fork played in the competitive Keystone Tournament over the weekend, posting a 1-2 record. The Colts lost to Columbus Bishop Hartley and Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit and beat Barberton, with all three games going to extra innings.
“Seeing that kind of competition is only going to make us better down the road,” Kline said. “I was really proud of our girls. We haven’t seen pitching like that and we really hit the ball well.”
Clear Fork qualified for the state tournament in 2011, Kline’s freshman year. The Colts fell to Warren Champion 5-2 in the state semifinals. Kline was 1-for-3 with a stolen base. Fellow seniors Macey Ruhl and Anna Myers also played in the state semifinal game.
“A few of us have state tournament experience, which helps,” Kline said. “My advice to the younger girls is just to take it all in and enjoy every minute of it because it goes by so fast.”
If anyone knows about fast, it’s Kline.
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“She is a weapon,” Madison coach Tim Niswander said after Kline stole five bases in Clear Fork’s 7-3 win over the Rams earlier this month. “She can almost manufacture runs by herself.”
