Right now, the Crestwood Red Devils’ softball team has spent more time on the diamond during a game than in actual practice time. The Red Devils’ lack of outdoor playing time continued to show when they were defeated by Minerva 14-4 last Thursday at Minerva High School.
“Our biggest issue overall is the lack of outside time,” said Coach Matt Helm. “We can’t do a whole lot with softballs in a gym and simulate a whole lot so we are struggling. Offensively, who I expect to be playing is playing and the rest of our girls are either new or coming off another sport or just getting acclimated or adjusted.”
After holding the Lions scoreless in the first inning, the Red Devils (0-2, 0-2) were plagued by some poor defense in the second frame when Minerva scored four runs.
Senior right-hander Bella Hunter recorded two outs against the first three batters, but everything unraveled when the Red Devils could not track down a shallow pop fly in the outfield off the bat of senior third baseman Brianna Lively, putting runners at first and second.
The Lions broke the stalemate when freshman left fielder Natalie Essick hit an infield RBI-single to second base and Crestwood’s defense continued to struggle when sophomore left fielder Audrey Julian could not catch a fly ball off the bat of freshman second baseman Delaney Sell, allowing another run to score.
Sophomore shortstop Rachel Weaver increased Minerva’s lead by hitting a two-run double to left field, pushing the Lions ahead 4-0.
The first-year coach acknowledged that the defensive miscues put a heavier burden on Hunter.
“It added almost an inning-and-a-half to her pitching total,” he said. “It really hurt her as we were in that upper 40s pitch range at that point and by the time she came off we were into the low-60s and almost 70 pitches at that point and it really took a toll on her.”
Crestwood responded by scoring four runs on four hits and a hit batter in the top of the third inning to tie the score.
After putting runners at second and third with two outs, the Red Devils’ heart of the order delivered with three consecutive two-out extra-base hits.
Senior third baseman Mia Gullata, Hunter, and junior first baseman Kayleigh Helm each hit run-scoring doubles to tie the game at 4-4.
“That is the group of girls which I expect is going to carry us and we have to get everybody else to rally around that,” noted Helm.
The Red Devils’ momentum faded in the bottom of the fourth frame when Minerva erupted for seven runs on six hits, but the avalanche started when the Crestwood defense committed consecutive errors at the start of the inning to put runners at first and second.
According to Helm, Crestwood made too many defensive miscues to overcome.
“We just fought back from a four-run deficit and tied it up and it just snowballed from there,” he noted. “At that point we went into the next two innings with the bottom of our order which does not have the experience. We went from getting down, to having the errors, to having inexperienced hitters before we could even try and put the ball back in play again.”
After the Red Devils’ big third frame, they only recorded one more hit before Minerva continued adding to its lead by scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead 14-4 and trigger the mercy rule, ending the game.
According to Helm, although Crestwood returns a core group of five players, with four having been named Chagrin Valley Conference All-Conference players last year, there is not a lot of depth behind them.
The returning group of Hunter, Kayleigh, Gullata, junior center fielder Erin Hallis and junior shortstop Alyssa Hallis have been tasked with getting their younger teammates up to speed.
“Our core five are the ones carrying this team and we are looking to carry and inspire the younger players to basically join them at their level,” Helm said. “They have been more vocal as leaders go this year than they have ever been in the past.”
In addition to that, only Hunter and Kayleigh are returning to play the same positions as they did last year.
In only two games, the Red Devils’ defense has committed seven errors. Helm acknowledged that it was a trend Crestwood needed to snap before beginning CVC Valley Division play.
“It does show that against good teams we cannot make a mistake but even against some of the teams that are not as good, mistakes are going to hurt us,” he said.
Following a home game against CVC Valley Division rival Grand Valley on Thursday, the Red Devils will host Newton Falls on Friday in Mantua at 5 p.m.
