Rohr, Lancaster Stun Unbeaten Austintown-Fitch to Reach Ohio Division I Title Game

AKRON, Ohio – The story of David and Goliath played out in real time during the first OHSAA Division I softball state semifinal on Wednesday morning at Firestone Stadium. Lancaster senior pitcher Kileigh Rohr played the role of David, while unbeaten Austintown-Fitch filled the role of Goliath.

Rohr Rises to the Moment

Only instead of a slingshot and a stone, Rohr used her right arm and a yellow softball as she helped the Gales defeat the Falcons 4-0 to advance to the state championship game on Thursday at 3:00 p.m.

Top-ranked Fitch entered the game 26-0, scoring 12 runs a game and won their regional semifinal 10-0 and the regional final 11-1. Rohr entered the game coming off a regional-final start in which she lasted just 1 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and four walks.

But games are not played on paper.

And on the turf at Firestone Stadium, Rohr brought her best stuff and was up for the moment, shutting down the Fitch offense with a complete game five-hitter, walking one and striking out four.

“I really locked in, especially last night, just focusing on how big of a tournament this is, and not letting the moment get too big,” Rohr said. “That's kind of been our motto going into the postseason, is not letting the moment get too big.”

Changeup Keeps Falcons Guessing

Rohr kept the Fitch hitters off balance all day, mixing in her changeup with her fastball to keep them guessing, something she had made a point of emphasis over the past few weeks.

“Especially in the postseason, towards the end of regular season, we really focused on changeups, because we knew how big and how important it would be coming into big games like this,” Rohr said. “We faced a lot of teams where they had nine people who could really hit the ball, and I think that's helped prepare us a lot, especially just getting those reps in, throwing my changeup. I think that's why I had the amount of pop-ups that I had today.”

The ability to command both her fastball and changeup with accuracy and efficiency allowed the Gales to call any pitch in any count.

“I think everything was working,” Lancaster catcher Kendall Brown said. “We could call any pitch, she didn't shake anything off, and every pitch that she was throwing, I was confident that it was going to have a good outcome.”

Griggs Delivers Key Runs

It was a nail-biter for the first five innings, with Lancaster taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI groundout by Mia Griggs. But the Gales opened it up in the sixth, scoring three runs on a two-run double by Griggs and a sacrifice fly by Hannah Smith to make it 4-0.

Middle of the Order Neutralized

That was the breathing room Rohr needed for the all-important bottom of the sixth inning with Fitch sending up the middle of their order in Abby Toth, Kylie Folkwein and Morgan Roby. Toth hit .597 with 16 homers and 12 doubles this season, Folkwein was batting .588 with 15 home runs and 14 doubles and Roby hit .444.

But on this day, those numbers didn’t matter.

Rohr went to the circle in the sixth and was taken to a full count by Toth before inducing a flyout to deep left and then retired Folkwein on a popup on the first pitch and Roby on a soft liner to second, also on the first pitch.

“I would say I was definitely able to take a little bit of a deep breath, but I wouldn't say that the amount of pressure came off (in the sixth),” Rohr said. “I love playing under pressure, playing under pressure is my favorite thing. I feed off of it, so I definitely just would say that the pressure stayed the same all game. I knew what my team needed out of me, and my team knew what I needed out of them. And I think that when we all play together, and we all mesh, and we score three runs in top of the six, that's what happens, big things happen when we all play together.”

Once the Gales got the lead, Rohr felt like the Falcons started to press a little bit at the plate and talked with Brown about it in the dugout.

“We actually did have a conversation about that,” Rohr said. “They're coming out and they want to swing, and they want to hit the first pitch, so I focused a lot on first pitch strikes and relying on my defense, and my defense came up in clutch moments, and they had my back.”

That mindset led to Rohr retiring nine of the final 10 hitters she faced over the last three innings, with five of those on the first pitch and two more on the second pitch of an at-bat to put the finishing touches on her David-like performance.

Underdogs No More

The entire team knew they were the underdog coming in and didn’t shy away from it.

“We weren't even ranked at the beginning of the season (and) now we're here in the state championship,” Rohr said. “Coming into this game, we knew what we could do, and we knew we were capable of, and we went out there and we did it.”

What the Gales (and Rohr) did was slay the Falcons, err, Goliath.

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