GARDINER — Gardiner softball coach Ginger Shaw has been alternating Brittany Rollins and Kristal Smith in the circle all season. Rollins is normally fine with that arrangement, but on Monday afternoon she fully intended to finish what she started.
“We had a game plan of me pitching three (innings),” Rollins said, “and (coach) said, ‘As long as you show me that you want it, you can keep going.’ I was not ready to come out.”
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Rollins fired her first career no-hitter and struck out a career-high 14 as top-ranked Gardiner defeated No. 4 Nokomis 8-0 in an Eastern B semifinal.
“I know her well enough now that I can look in her eyes and tell from the very first inning, whether she is like a laser,” Shaw said. “She looked at me pregame with that look. So I knew when she got the ball in the circle, she takes it as a personal challenge, and she was ready for that challenge today. That Nokomis team is a tremendous hitting team, up and down the lineup.”
Gardiner (18-0) moves on to play No. 3 Hermon in the regional final at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Coffin Field in Brewer. Nokomis finishes 17-2, with both losses to Gardiner. In the other meeting between the teams, the Tigers held off Nokomis in 10 innings.
“Our kids were really out to prove that we were a better team than what we showed the last time we were at Nokomis,” Shaw said. “We had some errors that game. We pride ourselves on playing better defense than what we did, so we kind of put it up as a challenge this time.”
In the bottom of the first inning, Gardiner went ahead 1-0 on a leadoff single by Bri Brochu and a double by Lilly Chepke. Nokomis pitcher Sara Packard struck out two in the bottom of the second, but was playing with a pulled groin and was removed in favor of Becky Orcutt after Gardiner scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the third.
“We could tell she was struggling, she was hurting,” Brochu said. “But she still pitched a great game.”
“We thought we could push her one more inning,” Nokomis coach J.D. McLellan said. “Then we did the extra inning, and that really didn’t help. Becky did what she could, but it was just one of those games. Against a good team, you can’t come out not having your ‘A’ game, that’s for sure.”
Nokomis got its only baserunner in the top of the third when Mikayla Charters drew a leadoff walk on a 3-1 pitch and moved to third on two passed balls. With two out and the score 1-0, Sierra Fortin slapped a looper over the head of Smith at first base, but Brochu, playing second, made a basket catch near the foul line to end the inning.
“If that drops in for a single, that’s a whole different ballgame,” Shaw said. “That was a huge catch — huge — in more ways than one.”
In the bottom of the third, the Tigers scored their three runs with two out. Morgan Carver and Ellie Luken came home on an error, and Smith’s line-drive double to right-center field brought home Nicole Chadwick to make it 4-0.
Rollins retired the last 15 batters of the game, and 11 of those were on strikeouts. Before Monday, Nokomis had been averaging 11.1 runs per game.
“She has a great riser,” McLellan said. “In fact, even the umpire said it was jumping.”
Rollins said she was unaware of the no-hitter until her mother hugged her and told her after the game. Rollins also had no idea she struck out 14 of the 22 batters she faced.
“That’s awesome!” Rollins said. “I’m just learning everything.”
The Tigers added two runs in the fifth when Nokomis had a wild pitch and an error on the same play, then tacked on two more in the sixth with the help of singles by Brochu (3 for 4) and Chepke. When Rollins fanned the side on 11 pitches in the seventh, that set up the game with Hermon. The only common opponent for the teams is Winslow. Gardiner defeated the Black Raiders 3-0 and Hermon won its game 10-5.
“I had seen them previously in the regular season,” Shaw said. “I think that’s going to be another quality game. They’re fast. They play good defense. They’ve got some good hitters. They’ve got some good pitching. I think it’s going to be a battle. It’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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