Poland advances; Mooney falls, 2-0

The Bulldogs play Ashtabula Edgewood today for the district crown.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
JEFFERSON -- The Poland High softball team (21-3) will compete today for its six straight Division II district title.
The opponent will be Ashtabula Edgewood (22-3), which advanced to the title game by ousting Mooney's winningest team, 2-0, and preventing the Cardinals from playing in their fourth straight district final.
"Defensively, I thought we played very well," Poland coach Reid Lamport said after his team defeated Lakeview, 4-0, Tuesday.
"They had a couple of sharply hit balls that could have been hits, but we took them away from them and that was a big difference," Lamport said. "We did not allow them to get momentum."
Leading Poland's victory with her arm and her bat was sophomore pitcher Liz Maher, who tossed a two-hitter and contributed a two-run single in the fifth inning.
"I felt real strong," said Maher (10-1). "I always get pumped up for tournament games. Why not? We're all pumped up."
Early lead
Poland grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning after Allie Patton walked, stole second base and advance to third on an outfield flyout. Ashley Conger singled for the 1-0 lead.
Against Lakeview pitcher Abby Bensing, Maher said she struggled at first "because that riseball she threw was pretty awesome.
"It looked like it was coming in for a strike then it would go up, and I was falling for that. But I waited on it and stayed down, and swung down on it," Maher said.
Walks to Patton and Kari Thompson preceded Maher's hit.
Conger hit a solo homer in the seventh inning.
"Early on, [Bensing] had us a little off balance," Lamport said of Lakeview's 10-2 pitcher. "She mixes her pitches very well and we were swinging at some pitches out of the zone.
"Our goal was to get her deep in the count and most of our key hits were deep in the count.
Patience pays off
"The home run was a 3-2 [pitch]. We tried to get her to throw the ball down the middle late in the count knowing she needed a strike," Lamport said. "Our girls were patient."
Brittany Bucco doubled for Lakeview (19-4), the first-place team in the Trumbull Athletic Conference.
Lamport said he will chose today's starting pitcher not long before the 4:30 p.m. game begins at Jefferson Area Girls Softball Complex.
Lamport said Poland and Canfield will settle their Metro Athletic Conference race on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Canfield High.
Mooney finishes 22-7
Edgewood's Amber Adley's two-out triple in the sixth inning scored Jackie Baird and Brittany Wilson with the game's only runs.
"We're disappointed," Mooney coach Mark Rinehart said. "We gave a real strong effort -- we weren't always fundamentally like we should be but the effort was there.
"It was a case of two very good teams with 20-some wins playing each other -- both of them were looking for a break, and they got one in the sixth inning."
The Cardinals (22-7) committed three errors. A dropped infield pop-up put Wilson on base before Adley's triple.
"They took advantage of it and that's what good teams do," Rinehart said. "We hit the ball about as well as they did but we never put any hits together."
Mooney had five hits against Edgewood pitcher Megan Dragon, but none came in the same inning.
"Our game plan was to stay off high pitches and sometime we didn't execute them," Rinehart said. "Their pitcher was good."
Mooney pitcher Colleen Courtney took a no-hitter into the fourth inning, even though the Warriors loaded the bases in their first at-bat on an error, fielder's choice and walk.
Mooney's biggest threat came in the fourth inning when Mara Palombaro led off with a single and took second on Sarah Pelini's sacrifice bunt. But Dragon induced a groundout and strikeout to strand Palombaro on third base.
Dragon struck out eight batters.
"Their shortstop played a phenomenal game," Rinehart said of Trish Dreslinski who recorded five outs. "She took us out of several innings."
Mooney, which moved up to Div. II after being a Div. III regional finalist last spring, loses one senior starter -- Gina Fabian.
williams@vindy.com