Saturday, May 23, 1998

Old Fort succumbs in district final

By Jim Fetzer
Sports Writer

OLD FORT - Most teams advance to the regional softball tournament behind the strong arm of a fireballing pitcher.

Sandusky St. Mary's isn't one of those teams. Coach Derek Hutchins freely admits he doesn't have the luxury of a fast pitcher. Instead, his team relies on the other facets of the game.

The results speak for themselves. The Panthers (21-5) topped Old Fort 6-3 for the Division III district championship.

Panther pitcher Angie Gundlach may be several miles an hour slower than Old Fort's Erin Rau, but she overcame a few bouts of wildness to keep the Stockaders at bay.

''She was able to stay focused and make them hit the ball,'' Hutchins said. ''We felt confident that with our offense and defense that we just had to make them hit it. Our defense is tough - we don't boot many balls.''

Their offense isn't bad either. The persistent Panthers kept the pressure on Rau. They put the lead-off batter on base in five innings and had at least one baserunner in every inning.

Rau, a freshman pitching in her first district championship game, walked five and struck out four.

''Erin had her speed, but maybe it was a fat pitch night for her,'' Old Fort coach Ron Rau said. ''You have to remember that last year she was playing little league and now she's pitching in a district title game.''

Gundlach, meanwhile, breezed through the first three innings before losing her grasp of the strike zone. She walked three in the inning leading to three Old Fort runs that cut the heart out of a 4-0 St. Mary's lead.

What Old Fort needed most after that was a clutch hit or two. They stranded nine runners over the last five innings, leaving the tying run in scoring position in the sixth and the tying run at first base in the seventh.

Some baserunning mistakes were also costly. Rau was caught stealing third base on a close play to end Old Fort's three-run rally fourth. Then in the seventh, Rau hit what appeared to be a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to two runs. St. Mary's appealed that the runner left third base too soon and the umpire agreed. What had been promising rally with the bases loaded and nobody out left the Stockaders deflated.

''That my fault all the way,'' Coach Rau said. ''I'll take the blame. (The runner) did exactly what I told her to do.''

Maybe the most costly play for Old Fort came in the sixth. With runners on first and second, Rau called for the double steal. The throw to third bounced away and was headed for a vacant left field when it hit the umpire's leg, keeping it in the infield.

St. Mary's scored three times in the third inning and Old Fort was forced to play catch-up the rest of the way. With two outs and runners on second and third, Kris Proy sent a rocket shot off the leg of third baseman Julie Koch. The play was ruled an error and brought home both runners. Brie Hammond followed with an RBI single, and when Kristin Palmer doubled and scored in the fourth, St. Mary's led 4-0.

Despite walking seven, Gundlach improved her record to 20-5 and was able to celebrate with her teammates with the Old Fort players forced to wonder what might have been.

But despite his disappointment, Ron Rau was able to put the situation into its proper perspective.

''It wasn't that many years ago we'd have been satisfied with being district runner-up,'' Rau said. ''We're an awful young team that is going to make mistakes but we're going to get better.''