The Chardon Hilltoppers softball team has taken the measure of the Kenston Bombers earlier in this softball season with a late rally to pull away.
Game photos click here.
The Chardon Hilltoppers softball team has taken the measure of the Kenston Bombers earlier in this softball season with a late rally to pull away.
In a Western Reserve Conference tilt under sunny skies May 14, both teams knew it would be a tight ballgame again, as is the custom with these Geauga County powerhouses.
Chardon scored first, but in this heated rivalry, that really doesn’t mean much based on capabilities and skillsets.
The Hilltoppers got down to basics in the second inning, however, by putting bat to ball often, recording seven hits.
The Bombers made three errors in the inning where Chardon scored seven runs en route to a 12-1 win over Kenston.
Chardon (16-10, 7-3 in WRC) scored in every inning, but that second frame was the difference in the contest. Caitlin Seamon led off the second with a sharp single to left.
The ball pancaked on the left fielder, however, and Seamon ended up at second base. Gia Sharaba put down a beauty of a bunt down the third baseline, but the throw to first eluded the first baseman. Seamon scored, and Sharaba ended up at second.
Tatum Carpenter sent a liner to right-center for a single for another run. After a sacrifice bunt sent Sharaba to third, Gwen Boyle plated her with another single to left, also a sharply hit ball.
Alexa Anderson sent a pop fly into short leftfield, but miscommunication among the young Bomber defenders allowed the ball to drop for a single.
Savannah Murray sent a blast that hit the left-centerfield fence on the fly for a double; McKenna Banvillle sent a cannon shot to right center to plate two more runs, and as relay throws from the Bombers went awry; Banville dashed home to complete the big inning that took nearly 45 minutes to play, and the damages had been done.
“We’ve had some slow starts this season,” Chardon Coach Stewart Landies said after the game. “You know Kenston will always have athletes who can play, so when you get chances to score, you do it. Today, we attacked early, jumped on them, and we needed to do that as we start getting ready for the postseason. It’s a special time of year, the girls are amped up for it, so doing what we did today is huge.”
Kenston coach Annie Dubovec realized what had happened, but was totally aware of what this game meant.
“These were two strong teams today,” Dubovec said. “I am proud that we didn’t give up after that huge inning they had. We just didn’t make plays, they did, and that’s how it usually is for both of these teams. When a team hits you with a big inninng early, it’s easy for some teams to hang their heads and give up, but I am proud because we didn’t do that in any way. It’s easy to go 1-2-3, 1-2-3 after a big inning early in a game, but we didn’t. Their pitcher was sharp today, but we hit some balls well and they played good defense to stop us.”
Chardon pitcher Alexa Anderson was accurate with her pitches in this game. After the HIlltoppers scored another single run in the top of the third inning, playing small ball to perfection after playing squash on the yellow orb in the second, the Bombers (14-9, 3-7 in WRC) got Avry Kunberger to second with two outs after she walked.
Madi Gambetesa drilled a sharp single up the middle for the first Kenston hit that plated Kunberger to spoil both the no-hitter and the shutout.
Then Hilltoppers shortstop Emma Anderson made the play of the season, possibly, for her team by racing to the left field line to snare a looper that closed out the inning, and the only other base knock the Bombers could muster was in the bottom of the fifth by Kunberger as she blooped a single to short center.
In totalling 15 hits to go with 6 Kenston errors, Chardon was paced by Boyle, with 3 hits, and 2 each from Emma Anderson and Alexa Anderson, another pair from Banville and Madison Kilpeck, as well as 2 from Tatum Carpenter at the bottom of the order. Alexa Anderson drove home 3, and boyle, Morgan Kilpeck, and Seamon each scored a pair.
Alexa Anderson hurled a gem by allowing just two hits and two walks while fanning eight for Chardon, and for the Bombers, Quinn Robertson was the hard luck loser.
She pitched very well, but the hot Hilltopper bats put the ball into play often, and the defense just wasn’t there in this game for Kenston.
Both teams have final regular season games this week before hitting the tough tournament trail at the end of the week.
Making basic plays and playing fundamentally well will be the key for both, but they have the skills for long runs in postseason play.
