Tigers surprise Eagles

Nick Rice
HANOVERTON — The third time’s a charm.

Springfield fell to United twice in the regular season but wouldn’t allow itself to be defeated a third time as the Tigers edged United 9-4 in a Division III sectional final Thursday.

“I’m really proud of the way we’ve been playing together,” Springfield coach Amy Angelo said. “We made some errors today but we got some big hits in crucial times. We didn’t allow ourselves to get down and stayed positive. That’s really important when you’re playing in a big game against a team like United.”

“It was a bad day to have the worst game of the year,” United coach Bob Reeder said. “We had some poor at-bats and made some errors that really hurt us out there but give Springfield credit. They came to play and I wish them a lot of luck.”

Catcher Shala Maldonado led the Tigers on the day with two hits including a double and a pair of RBIs. Rebecca Evan recorded an RBI double and Kelsey Larson had an RBI single in the win. Breanne Mincher had a double while Erica Pitts knocked in a run the the Tigers.

The Tigers (13-10) will face the winner of Warren Champion-Newton Falls and Maplewood-LaBrae Wednesday at South Range Sports Complex.

Springfield pitcher Erica Burkey earned the win from the mound by striking out eight Eagles while only walking two.

“(Erica) did a great job of keeping us off balance and throwing outside,” United pitcher Jessie Vincent said. “We didn’t have too many great at-bats but she did a nice job today. She kept throwing us outside pitched and we just kept swinging.”

Erin Briceland had a pair of singles and an RBI for the Eagles (21-4) while Alisha Syx had two hits in the loss. Karissa Heuer also had two singles, a stolen base and a run scored.

“I hate to lose the last game of the season the way we did,” Reeder said. “We just didn’t play very good and that’s going to leave a bad taste in my mouth. I’m confident about next season because we have a nice group of young players coming up. I’m going to miss the seniors but I’m looking forward to it.”

“It’s always hard to lose especially when it’s the last high school game,” Vincent said. “I had a great time this year because we really came together as a team. I’m proud of everyone and nobody lost it for us tonight.”

“We really need to cut down on the errors because they can hurt us at any time,” Angelo said. “We’ve been doing the right things at the right times lately, hopefully we can stay positive and keep advancing.”



SPRINGFIELD: 0-0-3-2-1-0-3—9-8-4

UNITED: 0-1-1-0-2-0-0—4-10-6

S—Erica Burkey, wp (7IP, 8K, 2BB) and Shala Maldonado.

U—Jessie Vincent, lp (7IP, 5K, 3BB) and Erin Briceland.