SWEEP Spartans bash top teams

Boardman defeated two state-ranked squads.
By JOHN BUTERA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- Sophomore Jennifer Feret's one-out double in the last of the ninth inning scored Laura Amero as the Boardman High softball team continued to roll, defeating Tallmadge 1-0 Saturday at Field of Dreams.
With neither state-ranked team showing much offense in the first eight innings, Amero led off the ninth with an infield single.
Amero, who finished 2-for-4, went to second one out later when Gina Rango collected her second hit.
Feret, who had gone 0-for-3, crushed a double to deep center field to drive home Amero with the winning run.
"Last year, we beat Tallmadge in 12 innings in the district championship, and that game seemed like it went on forever," Boardman coach Bill Amero said. "[Saturday] seemed like the district championship all over again."
Feret's hit capped a weekend sweep for Boardman. The Spartans defeated Akron Manchester Friday and Massillon Jackson Saturday morning in a game in which Jennifer Pancake tossed a no-hitter.
But it was Feret who sent the Spartans home happy.
"I was just trying to stay composed and I was looking for the ball out over the plate," Feret said of her game-winning hit. "I really went up there feeling no pressure, because there were good batters coming up after me, and I knew we would get the job done."
Turning in another sparking performance was pitcher Marissa Bartholomew (16-2), who fashioned a one-hitter. The lone Blue Devils hit, a sharply-hit ground ball that went between Bartholomew's legs and into center field, was a one-out single in the seventh by Chrissy Harrison.
Bartholomew faced only three batters over the minimum as Tallmadge (20-4-1) managed to get a runner on via a ninth-inning walk and a second-inning error.
Bartholomew, who struck out two, came up with 12 groundball outs.
Matching Bartholomew was the performance of Tallmadge pitcher Stephanie Conrad (9-2), who stymied Boardman throughout the contest until the Spartans (23-3) came through in their final at-bat.
Jaclyn Corroto, the only freshman in Boardman's starting lineup, solved Conrad for a triple and double, the only extra-base hits other than Feret's game-winner.
"We called it a tournament tuneup," said Amero, whose Spartans face Strongsville in a Division I district semifinal Monday at Field of Dreams.
"At least this weekend, we showed we have what it takes to beat those type of teams."
Boardman 10, Massillon Jackson 1: Pancake tossed a no-hitter and added a three-run single as the Spartans tuned up for Tallmadge with a victory over Massillon Jackson (16-6).
Pancake struck out two and walked two while improving her record to 7-1. She helped break the score open with her three-run single in Boardman's five-run sixth inning.
Pam Prystash tripled, singled and drove in two runs; Bartholomew singled three times and drove in two; Feret singled three times; and Rango and Mary McCabe each singled twice. The Spartans recorded 14 hits.