Notre Dame defeats Perryville for district softball crown

POTOSI, Mo. -- Notre Dame junior ace Katie Bond's demeanor changed during the fourth inning of Thursday's Class 3 District 1 title game.

She'd been smiling after most pitches as she silenced the Perryville offense up to that point, but the Pirates wiped the smile off her face with a run on a pair of hits. A look of focused determination replaced the smile.

The Pirates' run rattled the reigning Class 3 state champions a little.

The Bulldogs' concern didn't last long.

Notre Dame pushed across five runs in the bottom of the inning and held on from there to claim the Class 3 District 1 softball championship 7-3 in front of an energized crowd.

Notre Dame players celebrate their 7-3 win over Perryville in the Class 3 District 1 championship game Thursday in Potosi, Mo. (Kristin Eberts)

"I was pretty confident that my defense would back me up and that we would come back and get hits," Bond said. "We're a good hitting team, and I had faith in all my teammates."

Savanna Ayers started the fourth with a double to left field and Jessica Menz followed with another double, hers down the left-field line that kissed the fence at the foul pole to even the score.

"We were hitting the ball throughout all the innings, they just started finding holes, and I knew they would," said Menz, who finished with three doubles in the title game. "We just had to keep hitting the ball."

Notre Dame capitalized on two Perryville errors and two more hits to end the fourth inning with a 5-1 lead.

"We know how Notre Dame can score plenty of runs in a short period of time," Perryville coach Jeff Steffens said. "You never feel like you're out of the woods with just one run.

Notre Dame's Katie Bond pitches during the fourth inning of the Class 3 District 1 championship game in Potosi, Mo.

"The big thing was after we scored that first one to come out and throw up a zero, and they put up a big spot on us. It wasn't because we played every ball the best we could. We ended up throwing the ball around a little bit, losing our composure and changing an inning that might have been only one or two runs into five for them."

The smile returned to Bond's face when she took the circle for the fifth inning.

"That puts a lot of pressure off of Katie and puts a lot of pressure off of the defense," Ayers said. "It just felt good to score a lot."

Notre Dame's offense pushed across two more runs in the fifth inning, and both runs were unearned.

"We started putting good bats on the ball and hitting gaps and finally got them to make a couple miscues," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "That's something they haven't done really the last couple years that we've played them."

Notre Dame's Summer Burger dives for a line drive during the seventh inning of a Class 3 District 1 championship game between Notre Dame and Perryville on Thursday, Oct, 7, 2010, in Potosi, Mo. Notre Dame won 7-3. (Kristin Eberts)

It turned out Notre Dame needed the insurance because the Pirates made things interesting in the seventh inning. Courtney Hotop led off with a single and scored on Casey Hotop's double. Kelsie Freeman plated her with a double to right field, and the smile again was gone from Bond's face.

"I started to get a little nervous, but I had faith that we could either hold them or come back and hit," Bond said.

After Bond coaxed a ground out then struck out Hailey Richardet, Graviett said he felt a little more comfortable.

"I counted in my head, I knew that if we got two outs, [Perryville standout Morgan] Baer couldn't be the tying run," Graviett said. "Once we got the second out, I was feeling better. You don't want her coming up in a situation where she represents the tying run."

Bond struck out Ashley Hotop for the final out, but the ball hit the dirt. Bond watched intently as Ayers, the Bulldogs' catcher, pounced on it and fired a strike to first base for the final out. Ayers ran out to Bond and offered an enormous hug as their teammates streamed from the dugout to join the celebration.

Perryville's Ashley Hotop makes a catch during the second inning of a Class 3 District 1 championship game between Notre Dame and Perryville on Thursday, Oct, 7, 2010, in Potosi, Mo. Notre Dame won 7-3. (Kristin Eberts)

"It's amazing," Menz said.

Steffens, whose team finished the season 23-4, said he liked seeing his team fight in the seventh inning.

"Even after it was 7-1, they came through with big hits toward the end of the game and tried to make it interesting," he said.

The Notre Dame players said the victory was a little sweeter because it came against Perryville, the team that handed the Bulldogs their first loss of the season Sept. 29.

"We wanted another shot to prove we could hang with them," Bond said.

Both teams needed to win their semifinal contests earlier Thursday to reach the district title game.

Notre Dame took care of North County 8-2 in the opener behind a stellar pitching performance from Bond.

The right-hander struck out 10 and only allowed two hits. She also delivered at the plate, where she went 3 for 4 with three RBIs.

Ayers went 3 for 3 and Menz added two hits with an RBI.

"We knew we couldn't take that first team lightly because we wanted to play Perryville so bad," Ayers said. "We just did as best we could and got it."

The Bulldogs jumped on the Raiders for two runs in the bottom of the first and another two in the third to erase much suspense.

Perryville's road to the championship game proved a little tougher. Park Hills had the tying run on second base in the seventh inning when Casey Hotop got Sabrina Tripp to ground back to her for the final out and the 5-3 victory.

The Pirates grabbed an early lead when Ashley Hotop, who led off with a double, scored on Tiarra Sparkman's ground ball.

But the Rebels tied the score in the third before Perryville pushed across a pair in the bottom of the inning. Brittany Young drew a bases-loaded walk and Courtney Hotop earned an RBI with a ground out to first base.

Baer doubled to score one in the fourth then scored when Sparkman reached on an error to cap the Pirates' scoring.

NOTRE DAME 7, PERRYVILLE 3

Perryville 000 100 2 -- 3 6 4

Notre Dame 000 520 x -- 7 7 1

WP -- Katie Bond. LP -- Casey Hotop. 2B -- Morgan Baer (P), C. Hotop (P), Kelsie Freeman (P), Jessica Menz 3 (ND), Savanna Ayers (ND), Sadie Schaefer (ND). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Menz 3-4, Ayers 2-4. Records -- Perryville 23-4, Notre Dame 27-2.

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PERRYVILLE 5, PARK HILLS 3

Park Hills 001 000 2 -- 3 3 3

Perryville 102 200 x -- 5 4 1

WP -- Casey Hotop. LP -- Taylor Friend. 2B ? Ashley Hotop (P), Morgan Baer (P). Multiple hits -- Perryville A. Hotop 2-4.

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NOTRE DAME 8, NORTH COUNTY 2

North County 000 101 0 -- 2 2 3

Notre Dame 202 022 x -- 8 12 3

WP -- Katie Bond. LP -- Brittney O'Connell. 3B -- Summer Burger (ND). 2B -- Bond 2 (ND), Brandi Glastetter (ND), Jessica Menz (ND). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Bond 3-4, Menz 2-4, Savanna Ayers 3-3, Glastetter 2-4.