HUBBARD — Boardman head coach Fred Mootz calls Spartans ace Tori Strines the team’s “bulldog” in the circle.
She lived up to that nickname on Saturday, as Strines pitched a one-hit shutout to lead Boardman to its first district championship since 2011 with a 5-0 victory over Howland in the Division III, Northeast 2 district final.
“She’s just amazing. Tori steps up. When the moment’s big, Tori becomes bigger, and she did that today,” Mootz said. “It’s what I expect of her and she’s done it for four years. She was in this same game four years ago as a freshman and we came up short. I told her, if we ever get to this point again, we’re going to be on the other end of that. … She does it time and time again.”
The district title continues what’s been a historic season for the Spartans, as they also earned a share of the All-American Conference title, which is Boardman’s first league championship since 2003, according to Mootz.
But the Spartans have their sights set on loftier goals, as they try to make a run at a state championship in Akron.
“It feels great. We worked so hard in the offseason and put in so much work throughout the winter to become district champs,” Strines said. “But it’s just one step in our road to state, and we really want to be No. 1 in the state at the end of the year.”
Strines brought her best stuff right from the get-go against the Tigers. She opened things up in the top of the first inning with a strikeout and finished with 12 strikeouts and just one walk.
Howland reached base just three times throughout the afternoon. The first came in the first inning when Brianna Deeter reached on a Boardman fielding error in the outfield, the second was in the fourth inning when Strines walked Brooke Tatar and the third and final time the Tigers reached base was when Tatar broke up the would-be no-hitter with a double in the seventh inning.
“I was just out there doing my thing and trying to keep them off balance,” Strines said. “I did for those six innings until the seventh inning when a very good batter came up and got a hit, and there’s not much you can do about it.”
At the plate, the Spartans scored four runs in the first inning in explosive fashion.
Strines blasted a solo home run in Boardman’s lead-off at-bat. Then after back-to-back base hits by Alex Ward and Mikayla Rivera with two outs on the board, Ellie Wymer joined the home run party, sending a three-run homer over the fence in left-center field.
“I told them, if we hold them in the top half, come back and get our pitcher a couple runs on the board, then they settle in more,” Mootz said of the fast start. “Our defense can play a lot looser because now if you make a mistake, you got yourself a little bit of a cushion. Because I’m never satisfied, I would have liked to add on a little more. We had some traffic on the bases a bunch, and we didn’t get it home. But that’s okay because obviously we only needed one today with Tori out there. But it was key to get that good start like we did.”
After Boardman’s early barrage, Howland settled in, as Tatar and the Tigers’ defense responded to hold the Spartans to just one more run the rest of the way.
In the circle, Tatar finished with seven strikeouts and gave up nine total hits.
“I think we did a great job — Brooke adjusted on the mound and our defense played really well,” Howland head coach Nicole Wayt said. “We just couldn’t get going in the box. Obviously in order to win games, you have to have hits in order to score, and we couldn’t get a bat on the ball today.”
Howland ends the season as district runner-up at 12-10 and will graduate two seniors, Tatar and Tabitha Schlatt.
Tatar was emotional after the game about seeing her high school career come to a close, but she leaves behind a decorated career with the Tigers. She finishes with more than 400 career strikeouts in the circle, while breaking the school record for RBIs and leading the team in batting average this season.
“As you can see from the team’s reaction and the seniors’ reaction, this team has been super close all year,” Wayt said. “Brooke and Tabby have led so well together. They’re very opposite personalities, but they all blend so well together. They’ve been great leaders for these girls. Obviously, we’re going to miss them next year and we wish nothing but the best for both.”
With a young squad that will return most of its lineup, Wayt hopes the underclassmen can use their season this year as a springboard for next season.
“It’s been 10 years since this program has been in this game, so we told them going in that no matter what coming out of it, we were so proud of them,” Wayt said. “We expect these girls that have been here to use this experience and hopefully try to get us back here again next year.”
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