AKRON — Kaylee Cline may not be the fastest player in Hillsdale’s everyday lineup, but the senior catcher used her base-running savvy to send the Falcons into the state finals.
Cline scampered home with the game’s only run on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning as poll champ Hillsdale knocked off upstart Bradford 1-0 in the Division IV state semifinals Friday morning at Firestone Stadium.
“I’m not the fastest runner, but I ran as fast as I could to get home,” Cline said. “It was an awesome feeling to be able to finally score after eight innings.”
An unusual set of circumstances led to the game’s lone run. Cline reached on a one-out walk and moved to second on Sydney Long’s single to left, bringing Emily Crossen to the plate. Crossen lifted a fly ball to the cut of the outfield grass near second base. The umpires immediately called the infield fly rule but neither Cline nor courtesy runner Hallie Goon heard the call. Crossen’s fly ball was dropped by Bradford second baseman Emma Canan, but because neither runner realized the infield fly rule was in effect they both broke when the ball hit the ground and were able to advance.
“It was a complete fluke, because (the runners) didn’t hear,” Hillsdale coach Hannah Fulk said. “I was the only one who heard the umpire say infield fly. They saw a dropped ball and they high-tailed it. It was a fluke that ended up working out in our favor.”
With the winning run at third base, Keirah Smetzer quickly fell behind in the count when she swung at and missed a low change-up. Bradford pitcher Skipp Miller came back to the change-up on the next pitch, but Smetzer didn’t offer and the ball skipped away from Bradford catcher Elisa Martinez — allowing Cline to scurry home with the winning run.
“I knew it was going in the dirt right away,” said Miller a hard-throwing freshman who already has verbally committed to Ohio University. “It was my fault. I pitched it in the dirt and it was a long backstop.”
One she saw the ball get away from Martinez, Cline never hesitated.
“Kaylee is probably one of our best baserunners,” Fulk said. “She might not have the most speed, but she reads the ball very well.
“She got a good jump. It wasn’t even that close of a play.”
Long was her usual sensational self. The Ohio Dominican-bound senior scattered six hits and struck out 13. She worked out of a jam in the top of the seventh as Bradford had runners at second and third with nobody out, but failed to score.
“It’s a little stressful going out there for seven full innings and then going into extra innings without any runs scored, but I know I can count on my team,” Long said. “I just go out there and pitch my game and I know I can count on my defense.”
Like Long, Miller gave up six hits. She struck out seven and walked one.
“I think I told the girls a hundred times out there that was one of the best games I’ve ever seen,” Bradford coach Shon Schaffer said. “That was big-time.”
Hillsdale (26-2) will play for its seventh state championship against either Defiance Tinora or Strasburg-Franklin. Strasburg beat Long and the Falcons in the state semifinals in 2016.
“I don’t think we played our best game two years ago,” Long said. “We need to remember what happened, but also forget it and play a new game.”
