Perry vs. Jefferson softball: Pirates clinch district title on Emalee Sines’ diving play

With a district championship on the line between two Division II heavyweights on May 18, the Perry Pirates took a dive in the seventh.

With the tying run on third and the winning run on second in the bottom of the seventh inning, Perry third baseman Emalee Sines snared a line drive off the bat of Jefferson’s Tatiana Matuz and dove to tag third base and doubled up Angelica Sack for a game-ending double-play, leading the Pirates to a 9-8 win over the Falcons.

The Pirates (24-4) will play West Branch at 2 p.m. on May 23 at Akron Firestone Stadium in the first of two regional semifinals that day.

“Wow. What a way to finish, huh?” said Perry coach Joe Medlen.

Wow, indeed, considering the game-winning play was made by a girl who spent nearly four months in a wheelchair over the winter following an adverse reaction to a flu shot and meningitis booster shot during an Oct. 4 physical.

But with the game on the line, Sines stabbed a line drive that would have ended the game had it gotten past her, then laid out in full extension to tag the bag with her glove before Sack’s foot returned safely.

“I had a heart attack — I’m not going to lie,” said Sines, describing the final play. “I had a lot of anxiety at the end. But I knew I had to do it.”

Medlen marveled at the play long after the awards ceremony had run its course.

“It’s pure instinct,” he said, “but it’s also knowing the game and playing the game ... knowing the situation.

“The way she battled and what she’s done, to do what she did today, that’s amazing.”

Perry had to battle back from a 4-0 deficit to gain the win. When Jefferson senior Maggie Moore hammered the first of her two home runs of the bottom of the third, the Falcons (25-2) had a seemingly comfortable lead.

But Perry’s offense caught fire in the fourth off Jefferson’s sophomore hurler Sheridon Wilber, with Elle Infalvi lacing a two-out RBI single and Ava Strahan following with a two-run single to make it 4-3.

An inning later, a five-run uprising was highlighted by Olivia Moon’s mammoth home run to right, scoring Sydney Moon and Sines.

A 4-0 deficit had morphed into an 8-4 lead.

“Yeah I knew,” said Moon with a smile, knowing the ball was gone as soon as she hit it.

Said Sines of the offensive uprising: “Once we got rolling, there was no way we were going to stop.”

Jefferson narrowed the score to 8-6 in the fifth on Moore’s second homer of the game — her 14th of the year. But Perry got what turned out to be a valuable run in the top of the seventh when Sydney Moon scampered home on a throwing error to make it a three-run game.

Jefferson coach Seth Gilman accentuated the importance of that late Perry run. Without it, the score would have been 8-8 when Matuz’s liner ended the game on a double-play.

“Not every line drive goes through,” Gilman lamented. “Three feet here or three feet there and it coulda been a different game. It’s not just the last play, but the whole game.”

Jefferson, which lost to Lake Catholic in last year’s district final, was led by Wilber’s four hits to go with Moore’s two home runs.

“We are a very offensive-minded team,” Gilman said. “They just outhit us tonight. Their line drives went through and ours didn’t.”

When the final out was made, the Perry dugout spilled onto the field in celebration. Medlen joked that after having hip replacement surgery, he risked popping his hip out of socket — but the reason was a good one.

Perry is a district champion.

“Sept. 21 paid off. That’s the day we started working out,” Olivia Moon said, “and now we’re going to the regional semifinals.”

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