Players get ‘Carried’ away

By Chuck Housteau

All-Star softball

Mahoning County’s all-star team beat Trumbull/Columbiana twice at Fields of Dreams.

BOARDMAN — Several members of the Division II state champion Canfield High softball team were in a hurry to catch the Carrie Underwood concert at the Chevrolet Centre Wednesday night.

Unfortunately there was an all-star doubleheader to play first at the Fields of Dreams complex in Boardman.

The Canfield seniors — Rachel Melewski, Tricia Bettura, Bryanne Halfhill and Brittany Danilov — along with a strong contingent of Mahoning County all-stars, made quick work of the Trumbull/Columbiana stars, 9-1, in the opening game of the twinbill, then headed off to the concert.

Mahoning County also took the nightcap without the Canfield contingent, 10-0.

“We had to juggle the lineup a little to make sure some of the girls could get to the concert on time,” said Canfield coach Ronie Haurin. “But that’s the fun of a night like this.”

Haurin said she enjoyed coaching the all-stars after coming away with a state title.

Bettura and her teammates showed why the Cards were the top team in Division II in leading the opening game rout.

Bettura pitched five innings of no-hit ball and had a perfect game with 10 strikeouts when Haurin replaced her with Poland’s Liz Maher.

“This was a lot of fun,” Bettura said. “There was no stress and it was fun to play with and against many of the girls we faced this year.

“I had no problems with coming out of the game at that point because it was time to let others have some fun.”

Maher came in and mowed down four straight batters over the next two innings before Champion High’s Nicole Weaver sent a shot deep over the right-field fence to break up the no-hitter and perfect game.

“The girls were all teasing me to do something to get things going for us,” Weaver said. “It was fun to get that hit and at least not get shut out by a couple of great pitchers.”

The Mahoning stars scored a run in the second inning and two more in the third before breaking the game open with a six-run sixth inning.

Ursuline High’s Jessica Yarab drove in Cardinal Mooney’s Cheryl Guyer and Moliterno with a double off the center field fence.

Yarab, Halfhill and Melewski all later scored on a line drive by Poland’s Allie Patton that was misplayed by the Trumbull/Columbiana outfielder and resulted in a three-base error.

Maher started the night game for the Mahoning stars and continued to handcuff the Trumbull/Columbiana stars by striking out five batters and yielding only one hit in four innings.

“We had great pitchers to throw at them,” Haurin said. “Its hard for any hitters to do much against the girls we had to throw the ball.”

The pitching parade didn’t end as Boardman High’s Kelcey Ford shut down the Trumbull/Columbiana bats by getting the final nine outs on strikeouts.

Ford also did plenty of damage at the plate when she smacked a monstrous grand slam in the third inning to give Mahoning a 4-0 lead.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Ford who was most proud of her home run.

“I like those high pitches because they go far,” Ford said. “I was looking for one and I knew I had hit it good.”

Mahoning tacked on five runs in the fourth inning on a two-run single by Boardman’s Katie Hawkins, an RBI single by Patton and another two-run single by Maher.

“This is just a fitting way to end the season,” said Warren JFK coach Joe Sylvester who led the Eagles into the Division IV state tournament.

“There was a lot of talent out there on the field and those girls had a lot of fun.”