Staff photo / Preston Byers The Canfield 12U softball team takes a photo with its championship banner after beating Poland late Monday night at Fields of Dreams in Boardman.

BOARDMAN — Unlike the previous three games in the 12U Little League District 2 softball tournament, Canfield did not have to fight from behind during Monday’s championship game.

Instead, Canfield hung seven runs on Poland in the first inning and kept up the pace to finish out the tournament with a five-inning 12-2 victory at Fields of Dreams in Boardman.

“We really talked about that,” Canfield manager Lou Zorella said of the fast start. “We really want to come out strong, and the best thing to do is go get up on them early. And that’s what we did. The goal was 1-2-3, hold them, and then come in and let’s hit. And that’s what happened. It was the game plan.”

In their previous meeting in the semifinals, Canfield fell behind, just as it had done against South Range and Austintown. On Monday, starting pitcher Kylee Kritz hit back-to-back batters with pitches, but she escaped the top of the first with the game still scoreless.

Canfield then began executing the game plan, immediately jumping on Poland starting pitcher Callaway Shaffer and exploiting mistakes made in the field.

Sloan Vodhanel led off with a hit, which put her on third base. After Bethy Zorella and Jordan Greenhaw laid down a bunt and drew a walk, respectively, McKayla Lang gave Canfield the lead with a two-run double. Kate Broderick then did the same, putting Canfield ahead 4-0. Kritz drove in the fifth and final run of the inning with a single.

“I think it has a lot to do with nerves,” Poland manager Adam Shaffer said of his team’s first inning. “They’re 12, 13 years old, so having this experience is only going to make them stronger, because they’re going to have to face adversity every time they step up to a big game.”

After an up-and-down first in the circle, Kritz settled in and breezed through the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Canfield widened its lead to eight in the bottom of the third.

Poland’s offense finally issued a response in the fourth by loading the bases with no outs. Unfortunately for Poland, Kritz forced three consecutive pop or fly outs, stranding the trio of runners and keeping Canfield ahead 8-0.

“All you can think is positive, hoping that someone’s going to get that big hit, maybe cut it in half,” Adam Shaffer said. “It stings, but we ended up scoring a few more runs, so I’m happy we did.”

Poland’s Mia Marsico drove in the first of two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Poland, though, did not get another chance to cut into the lead.

Greenhaw led off the bottom of the fifth with a ground-rule double to left-center field before Lang drew a walk and Broderick singled with a bunt to load the bases.

Mia Tieche drove in the first run of the half-inning and was followed by a Hailey Reigrut RBI single and bases-loaded Kritz walk to put Canfield up 11-2. Lydia Handel finished the game with an RBI hit that scored Tieche, triggering the mercy rule.

Lou Zorella said in the Canfield dugout that, despite the comfortable lead, they continued to emphasize the need to “win the inning.”

“Overall, I mean, we played a great game,” Lou Zorella said. “It was our defense, our hitting and Kylie pitching. We relied on her the whole tournament, and she did what she does.”

With the district title victory, Canfield qualified for the state tournament, which will be hosted at Fields of Dreams starting July 10.

“We’re not done here,” Lou Zorella said. “We’re moving on to the state, one game at a time, but the goal is to keep moving on. We hope it’s not done at state. We just want to keep playing.”