A perfect script
Malinkey hurls first-ever state final perfect game to lead ’Cats to 2nd title
Bob Daniels
The Chronicle-Telegram
ASHLAND — In a perfect ending to a dream season, Keystone rolled to its second state softball championship Saturday.
Senior Kristie Malinkey pitched the first-ever perfect game in a state final and Jessica Burt made history with an RBI triple as the Wildcats rocked Circleville 7-0 for the Division II title.
Keystone won its first championship in 1999.
Cheers for Malinkey grew progressively louder when she struck out the Tigers’ Heather Spangler and Casse Mogan in the seventh inning. And the crowd erupted in cheers when the All-Ohio right-hander got Jill Truex to miss badly on a change-up to end the game.
The Wildcats (32-2) accepted the championship trophy against a background of Keystone purple that stood out in a crowd of 922. Spectators filled the bleachers and stood behind the outfield fence at picturesque Brookside Park.
Malinkey said she didn’t know she had a perfect game until it was announced on the public address system.
“I was doing good, because I didn’t cry until I heard the announcement,” said Malinkey, who shed victory tears. “This is a wonderful way to end my senior year and our amazing season.”
With her 26th victory, the undefeated Malinkey tied the school single-season record. She struck out 13, giving her 343 for the year, 105 against tournament opposition. She finished her career with 909 K’s, second in school history.
Burt, the Wildcats’ All-Ohio center fielder, drove in the first run with a triple to the gap in left-center. It was her third of the two-day state tournament, a record.
In the sixth inning, she hit a drive to right-center that actually cleared the fence. But Tigers center fielder Alexis Goode reached over the fence after a long run, caught the ball, then tumbled over the fence and held on.
Burt kept a sense of humor about being robbed.
“When I hit it, I thought it was out,” she said. “Then the girl ran in there and caught it. I had to do something to make her look good. I do what I can.”
She also said she was surprised to learn that her triples — including two against Edgewood on Thursday — were a record.
“I mean, I don’t go up there thinking I’m going to hit a triple,” Burt said. “I find my pitch and swing hard, because if you’re not going to swing hard, why swing? Thankfully, I’ve been finding the gaps.”
Burt, the area’s leading hitter, finished the season with a .633 batting average, a school record. It tops the .605 posted by Keystone Hall of Famer and former coach Sue Scarbrough.
Malinkey’s perfecto was preserved by three good defensive plays. Burt ran far to her left to pull in a shot off the bat of Heather Spangler leading off the game. Freshman second baseman Kara Dill made two remarkable plays, one in the fourth inning and one in the fifth.
In the fifth, she got to a grounder that eluded first baseman Erica Reid then threw to Reid to get the runner. In the fourth, she put Keystone fans on their feet when she moved left and made a diving catch of a liner by Truex.
“That was more routine, because we work on those in practice,” said Dill, another of the Wildcats’ three first-team All-Ohio players. “Kristie threw it outside and I knew she was going to, so I moved closer to the line.”
Dill and Malinkey each had two hits with a double to spearhead Keystone’s nine-hit attack. Burt and sophomore Ginger Slone — who had one of the team’s three doubles — put up two RBIs each.
Senior Megan Coyne, sophomore Kate Yeo and Reid, a senior, had the other hits. Malinkey, Coyne and Yeo also had RBIs.
Keystone added two runs in the third inning after two-out hits by Dill, Malinkey and Coyne. The Wildcats put it out of reach with four more in the sixth on hits by Malinkey, Yeo and Reid, all of whom scored. Coyne also scored after reaching on an error that might have been a double.
Keystone coach Jim Piazza led the Wildcats to the Division II Final Four each of his first three years on the job. He was delighted to win the title on his fourth try.
“Before the game, we told the girls that we’re the No. 1 team in the state and Circleville wasn’t expected to be here,” Piazza said. “We told them they have nothing to lose and we need to score early to put some pressure on them.
“This is a credit to them,” he said. “They responded. They respond very well to coaching and what we tell them. They had this as their goal since day one, they worked hard to get it and they deserve it.”
Perfecto surprises Malinkey
Roger Negin
The Chronicle-Telegram
ASHLAND — Kristie Malinkey said she didn’t realize what she was doing.
That’s the only flaw you’ll find in the Keystone pitcher’s performance Saturday in the Division II state championship game against Circleville at Brookside Park. The rest of the day was perfection.
Twenty-one batters faced, 21 retired — 13 on strikes. She needed only 71 pitches, 57 of them strikes. She struck out every batter in the Circleville lineup at least once and got the side on strikes in the second, third and seventh.
At one point she whiffed eight in a row and only in the sixth did she fail to strike out a batter. In that inning she put the Tigers down on three pitches.
“I didn’t know,” said Malinkey, who heard the perfect-game announcement over the PA. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh.’”
There have been other no-hitters in the state tournament, but Malinkey is the first to pitch a perfect game.
She was helped by three good plays in the field. Jessica Burt ran down a hard liner off the bat of Heather Spangler in the bottom of the first and freshman second baseman Kara Dill made two good plays to stave off hits. Dill made a diving catch on a ball headed for right field off the bat of Jill Truex in the fourth and then a play in the hole to take a hit from Grace Winner in the fifth.
“She saved me on one of them,” first baseman Erica Reid said.
Winner’s grounder got by Reid, but Dill, roaming to her left, made the play and used a sidearm toss to Reid to get Winner.
“I love Kara to death,” Malinkey said.
“I knew where she was going to throw it (the pitch),” said Dill, speaking of the diving catch. “It was a curve, that’s why I went outside (to the left). Kristie did a nice job. She threw it where she was supposed to. I wasn’t even thinking about a no-hitter. I was just glad to contribute.”
“She pitched a great game,” said assistant coach Larry Shaw, who was head coach in 2001 when Keystone was state runner-up. “Kara made a couple of great plays. Nobody said anything about a perfect game. They’re so focused. When they get one run, they feel comfortable.”
It’s no wonder. In eight tournament games Malinkey gave up just one run, striking out 105 batters.
“I used all of my pitches,” Malinkey said.
“She was amazing,” catcher Sarah Stromack said. “She used her screwball and riseball. Getting that run (in the first) helped a lot. It calmed her down.”
If Malinkey needed soothing, it wasn’t apparent. She was in command all morning, finishing off the Tigers in an hour and 15 minutes.
“We had no answer for her,” Circleville coach Dave Truex said. “There’s a reason she’s a major college recruit (Butler University). She’s a great pitcher. We showed our youth today. We couldn’t lay off of it (the riseball). We’ve seen it before, but this is also the state (tournament).”
Malinkey went to three balls on only one hitter — Spangler in the fourth — but got her on a grounder to Dill. Only two left the infield, the second being a fly to right by Jessica McConnell.
Malinkey wasn’t the only Keystone player who didn’t realize they were in the midst of perfection.
“I had no clue,” said shortstop Megan Coyne. “I don’t think anyone did.”
But Jessica Burt knew. So did Reid.
“I knew — of course I knew,” said Burt, who also does some pitching.
“I realized it,” said Reid, a senior first baseman. “We’re not allowed to talk to her. I knew when she had eight straight strikeouts.”
It also meant some pressure.
“Every play, I had to get it,” said Reid, who had four putouts and an assist.
Malinkey didn’t need much help.
“You can’t get much better,” said former Keystone coach Dave Leffew, who guided the Wildcats to the 1999 state championship and was one of Malinkey’s early tutors. “She’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever had.”
Hard work and dedication seem to characterize the entire team.
“This was their goal from Day One,” said head coach Jim Piazza. “I knew it when we went to Avon for strength and speed work (in the offseason). We talked about how dangerous this team (Circleville) was. We’re ranked No. 1 and they were unranked. They had nothing to lose.
“I said, ‘We’re No. 1. Let’s play that way.’”
“We weren’t worried,” Malinkey said. “We just wanted to play our game and the game would be ours. We did. It helped to get some runs early. That gave us confidence. This has been our goal right from the start.”
“It’s about time,” said Stromack, speaking of the Wildcats’ previous misses at state. “We knew this year we were going to do it,”
“It’s everything I thought and more,” said Coyne, who transferred from Buckeye. “It’s been great. I can’t believe it’s over.”
“In the past we were our own worst enemies,” center fielder Burt said. “This time we were able to come through. I don’t think there was a doubt in anyone’s mind.”
