Celina falls in state softball game

AKRON - It didn't take long for Canfield left-hander Tricia Bettura to lock in.

In fact, she said she felt comfortable after the first pitch.

Bettura fired a four-hitter to lift Canfield to a 6-0 victory over Celina in the Division II softball state championship game Saturday at Firestone Stadium.

It marks Canfield's first softball state championship.

"I can't ask for anything more," Bettura said, while sitting next to the state championship trophy. "I'm so excited."

Bettura (17-2) struck out 10 and walked none. Using her fastball, riseball and change-up, she threw 92 pitches, 70 for strikes.

"When I throw my first pitch, I know it's either going to be a good day or a bad day," Bettura said. "You either have it, or you don't. Right when I threw my first pitch I knew it was going to be a good day."

Celina coach Nicole Driggs said, "They had a great pitcher on the mound. I'd say she was the best pitcher we faced this year."

Canfield (23-4) scored an unearned run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. It added one in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Lauren Sulick went 1-for-3 with three RBIs. Bettura went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

All nine hitters in the Canfield order had a hit in the Lady Cards' 13-hit attack.

Celina right-hander Laura Homan (19-3) went the distance and gave up six runs, all earned, on 13 hits. She struck out seven and walked none. Homan threw 110 pitches, 76 for strikes.

"Their hitters, one through nine, were strong," Driggs said. "They had consistent line-drive hitting."

Celina made three errors, including one in the opening inning.

"We were jittered," Driggs said. "We've never seen so many Celina fans out there. It looked more like a basketball game (Saturday). It was the same for both teams, but they handled it better than we did. ... Even myself as a coach, we were nervous out there and we played nervous."

With two out in the first, Canfield's Melissa West hit a liner back up the middle that Celina pitcher Homan batted down. Homan, however, rushed her throw to first and threw it over the first baseman's head for an error. West took second on the error and came home on a single to right by Bettura.

Canfield made it 2-0 in the fourth when Sulick hit a grounder to second and Celina second baseman Ashley Zacharias went home with the throw to try to nail Melanie West, who was coming home from third. West got under the tag by Celina catcher Kinzie Gardner on a bang-bang play.

Canfield added three runs on five hits in the fifth. Melissa West singled and took second on an error by the Celina center fielder. She came home on a sinking liner to left by Melanie West that left fielder Christine Thobe made a dive for, but couldn't come up with the catch. That made it 3-0.

Sulick's two-run single to left pushed the lead to 5-0. Buttera's RBI single in the sixth kicked the lead to 6-0.

Celina shortstop Audrey Harner, who injured her knee in the state semifinal, played shortstop in the championship game and went 1-for-3. She also made several diving stops in the field.

It was Celina's second trip to state, after reaching the state semifinals in 1999. Celina was trying to become just the third team from the area to win a state softball title. Bath won the title in 2001 and Crestview won it in 2005.

"We finished seventh in the league last year. ... We had a miracle season," third-year coach Driggs said. "We tried our hardest to get here, so I can be nothing but proud of what we accomplished. We beat the odds (Friday), but (Saturday), it just didn't happen."