The Berkshire Badgers’ softball team battled back once to tie things late but could not mount another rally. The Badgers suffered their first loss of the season when they fell 4-1 in eight innings against Chagrin Valley Conference rival Independence 4-1 in a crossover game last Thursday evening in Burton.
“We did a good job of hitting the ball and putting the ball in play and making plays, we just could not string anything together,” said Coach Joe Medlen.
It was a pitcher’s duel as freshman Moira Wonders matched Blue Devils’ freshman Lila Manfredonia pitch for pitch. It was a scoreless affair until the top of the sixth frame when junior first baseman Rebecca Gibson plated the game’s first run when she singled to center field, pushing Independence ahead 1-0, but the Badgers escaped further damage when senior center fielder Jenna Hornak nabbed senior Alexa Johnson trying to score on the play.
Berkshire (1-1, 0-0) evened the score 1-1 in the bottom half of the sixth inning when sophomore shortstop Whitney Davis scored on a flyout to right field off the bat of junior first baseman Mallory Durosko after sophomore catcher Melina Rodriguez committed an error on the relay home.
“We have been talking about resilience being mental and we are going to face adversity,” noted the first-year coach. “They are ready to get their next at-bat and want to step in the box. That was only our second game so if they continue on this course, I can’t wait to see what happens in the CVC.”
Wonders and Manfredonia each hurled scoreless frames in the seventh inning, sending the game to extra innings and Independence erupted for three runs in the top of the eighth, which was set up by a costly fielding error.
Manfredonia got in scoring position with a one-out double to center field and the Blue Devils put runners at the corners after Durosko committed a fielding error on a bunt down the third base line.
Although Wonders fanned junior shortstop Brooke Vollman for the second out, Gibson delivered the clutch hit when she clubbed a 2-run double to center field, giving Independence a 3-1 advantage.
The Blue Devils added another run when junior right fielder Mia Whieldon plated Gibson on an infield RBI-single to second base, stretching the lead to 4-1.
“We had opportunities to score earlier in the game,” said Medlen. “I will always say we win as a team and lose as a team and when we lose it is on me. We will work on some things and continue to work on some things, and you can normally narrow it down to a couple of plays that opened up that door and they took advantage of it but we should have scored more.”
The Badgers could not muster another rally in the bottom half of the eighth inning as the Blue Devils’ freshman ace capped off a dominant outing by allowing only two hits, one unearned run, three walks and striking 19 batters in eight innings of work.
Despite the loss, Wonders posted an impressive line allowing four runs (one earned) on nine hits and six walks while whiffing 11 batters in eight batters.
“Independence was a pretty darn strong team that she held down, their 3-4-5 hitters were pretty good and the killer in that whole game is that leadoff batter walked four times,” noted Medlen. “Luckily, she did not score more so she just dug in, and I just can’t say enough about the young lady.”
Although the Badgers lost the game, Medlen said it was one of the most electric games he has coached in his head coaching career. The game highlighted what he already suspected, that Berkshire’s biggest strength was its pitching.
As dominant as Wonders has been as the only freshman on the varsity squad this year, she is just one of a talented quartet of pitchers that will pace Berkshire this year. Seniors Kylie Gleason, Davis, Durosko, and Wonders make up a talented pitching staff, which Medlen is already saying is one of the deepest pitching staffs he has ever coached.
“Since I have been coaching high school in all of these years, I have never needed a pitching coach and I need a pitching coach at Burton,” he noted. “w\We are going to talk to a lot of people in the offseason because we have three girls that are doing a tremendous job at the junior varsity level.”
Following road contests against Mogadore on Tuesday and St. John on Thursday, Berkshire will host neighborhood rival Garfield for a double-header on Saturday morning in Burton at 11 a.m.
