Poland gains revenge in battle of ’Cats and ’Dogs

By Tom Williams

The Bulldogs reversed an earlier verdict, defeating Struthers 5-1.

STRUTHERS — The best softball team that Struthers High has produced delivered a sharp wakeup call to Poland last week.

Stung by a loss on their field, the Bulldogs responded Tuesday when senior pitcher Liz Maher fired a one-hitter in a 5-1 victory that keeps both teams in contention for the Metro Athletic Conference title.

Playing on Struthers’ new varsity field, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead thanks to Jenna Barnhart’s sacrifice fly and Jordan Palumbo’s three-run homer.

Asked what the experienced Bulldogs (6-1, 2-1 MAC) learned from their only loss, Maher (3-1) said, “We have to keep motivated throughout the whole entire game. We have to stay focused ... and I think we did it this game.”

Taking the mound with a four-run cushion, Maher promptly surrendered a home run by Wildcats leadoff batter Dom Martino. “That was a curveball that didn’t curve,” Maher said with a laugh.

Maher then retired the next 17 batters before errors put two Wildcats on base in the sixth inning.

“Oh, I love leads,” Maher said. “I get even more confident.”

Poland coach Reid Lamport credited Maher for keeping the Wildcats off-balance at the plate.

“They’ve got six hitters in their lineup who are bona fide, very solid batters so you can’t give them a steady diet of the same pitch,” Lamport said. “Liz mixed it up very well. She got behind a couple of times, but worked back. She didn’t give in.

“And we played very well defensively.”

After Martino’s homer, Maher said she gave herself a pep talk to “breathe, get refocused. That’s always what I tell myself if someone gets a [big] hit or homer.”

Maher suggested that Struthers’ win in round one, also by a 5-1 score, wasn’t an upset.

“We knew that they can hit that ball,” Maher said.

Lamport said the Bulldogs “didn’t hit the ball in the first game. We weren’t disciplined, we weren’t patient. Plus [Ashley Baron] is a good pitcher.

“She doesn’t give you a lot of pitches to hit so we have to pick our spots. We did a much better job [of that] today,” Lamport said. “We had three hits the first time and two of them weren’t very good.

“Today, we had 10 hits and three base-running snafus,” Lamport said. “It wasn’t that she didn’t pitch well — we had a better approach at the plate.”

Palumbo said the Bulldogs “were just too anxious to hit last time” that they faced Baron.

Allie Patton drew a full-count walk to open the game. Bunt singles by Kara Pierce and Maher loaded the bases.

“They played a little small ball on us basically, our girls didn’t stand their ground,” Struthers coach Anthony Gentile said. “We made a couple of mental mistakes in the first inning and that was the difference in the game.”

After Barnhart’s sacrifice fly was caught on the warning track by center fielder Nicolette Demyan, Palumbo connected.

Watching the ball sail off her bat “felt really good,” said Palumbo who said the Bulldogs were motivated.

“We took it to heart after they took that [victory] cheer on our circle,” Palumbo said.

Even though his Wildcats (9-3, 3-1) start five sophomores, Gentile called the loss very disappointing.

“I’m going to go home and sit in my chair tonight and basically try to work this out because it is a disappointing loss,” Gentile said. “I felt we definitely have the better team.

“[Maher] struck out one batter in seven innings against us,” Gentile said. “We’re a better hitting team than we showed tonight.”

williams@vindy.com