The theme of the Ravenna Ravens’ softball team this season has been situational hitting. It has come sporadically but it showed up in the seventh inning when the Ravens scored six runs to build a cushion to defeat Canton McKinley 10-4 last Friday evening in Canton.
“The kids came through with timely hits and we ended up scoring some runs,” said Coach Luke Darrah. “We had some really good pitching. Canton McKinley had a pretty good team, coming from the Federal League, I knew they would be tough.”
Prior to Ravenna’s (7-9, 4-7) victory against the Bulldogs, it had lost three of its last four games and had combined to only score five runs in those contests.
On Friday, the Ravens held a 4-3 advantage entering the seventh frame and the first-year coach acknowledged that his squad had a slim margin for error with only a one-run lead.
The Ravens’ offense awakened to score six runs on four hits to put the game away. Junior center fielder Kasey Sterba delivered a RBI-double to center field, then seized advantage of a defensive miscue by senior first baseman Nyla Faulkner on a ground ball, which allowed two more runs to score. Senior second baseman Whitney Holmes hit a RBI-single to right field and added another run by stealing home plate. Senior pitcher Ni’Kiza Elder committed a fielding error on a ground ball off the bat of senior first baseman Shyanna Dillbeck, allowing Ravenna’s lead to increase to 10-4.
Darrah said that it was the big inning that the Ravens had yearned for, as throughout the season they had stranded numerous baserunners and squandered multiple scoring opportunities.
“You just have to take advantage of situations when you have runners in scoring position and throughout the year, we have not done a real good job of that,” he acknowledged. “We have left bases loaded. I don’t know how many times this year but on Friday we took more advantage of our scoring opportunities.”
After not scoring more than three runs in any of their three previous losses, the Ravens matched their run total with a fast start by scoring three runs in the first inning to seize control.
After their first two batters reached base on base hits, Shyanna Dillbeck delivered a RBI-double to center field, pushing the Ravenna ahead 1-0. The Ravens capitalized on a defensive fielding error by freshman shortstop Kylie Delgado, who misplayed a ground ball off the bat of freshman shortstop Savannah McKeown, allowing two more runs to score.
“If you are the visitors, you want to score right off the bat so that is always an advantage, any time you can score first, you get that little mental boost,” noted Darrah.
The Bulldogs’ bats remained silent in the first three innings thanks to the work of freshman hurler Jocelynn Smallwood, who navigated traffic, but finally struck for three runs in the fourth and fifth frames.
No sooner did Canton McKinley trim the Ravens’ lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Ravenna respond with a run in top of the fifth, building the lead to 4-1 but the Bulldogs continued chipping away by scoring two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, making it only a one-run affair.
Holmes relieved Smallwood after five innings of work and was dominant in relief, tossing two innings while surrendering only one run on two hits while striking out four batters.
Darrah said that Ravenna’s path to victory became a lot clearer after enjoying an offensive eruption in the seventh inning.
After a string of challenging seasons, the 2025 season marks one of Ravenna’s most successful in recent memory. Despite still having a record below .500, the Ravens have already exceeded their win total from the last two seasons combined.
Darrah said that by inheriting a roster that is well-balanced in terms of having even numbers of players from each class, it has created the perfect blend.
“We have worked very hard to teach these players the game and how it is to be played and where they are supposed to be in certain situations and things of that nature and they are doing a very good job of picking up a lot of information,” he added.
With only a few weeks left in the season, Darrah said that his team is determined to show how much his squad has continued to improve since the beginning of the season.
Following a road game against Metro Athletic Conference foe Field on Tuesday evening and a home game against Portage County rival Garfield on Thursday night, Ravenna will welcome the Bulldogs for a rematch on Friday at 5 p.m.
