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Boardman pounds Hudson in Division I regional
By Doug Chapin
AKRON
It rained hard right at the start of the game and it rained hard as the game was ending.
In between the raindrops the Boardman softball team flexed its muscles in routing Hudson, 14-1, Thursday in a Division I regional semifinal at the Lee R. Jackson softball field at the University of Akron.
The victory put the Spartans (17-8) in the regional championship game for the third straight season. Boardman faces Federal League rival North Canton Hoover at noon Saturday for the right to play in the state final four.
The Spartans put three runs on the board in the first inning and it was more than enough for Alex DiDomenico who struck out 13 and allowed just three hits.
“We kind of thought that right at the beginning of the game, right at game time, we were a little more ready to play than they were,” Boardman coach Mike Trell said. “We wanted to have intensity coming right off the bus out onto the field, play our game and we knew we’d be fine. It was just a matter of us playing our game.
“It starts with the top of our order and we go from there.”
The top of the order did indeed get things going as Brooke Meenachan led off with a walk just as the first brief rainstorm ended. Consecutive well-placed bunt singles by Bethany Haddle and Danielle Petrus loaded the bases for DiDomenico. When she was hit by a pitch, the Spartans had their first run. One out later, Missy DeMarinis delivered a two-run single.
After DiDomenico struck out the side in the bottom of the first, Meenachan led off the second inning with a 270-foot bomb over the left-field fence. Julie Olbrych came through with a clutch two-out, two-run single in the third to make the score 6-0.
Hudson (20-5) tallied its only run in the third. In the fourth, Alex DeFabio made a great catch at the fence in right field for the second out of the inning. It became a run-saving play when the next batter singled. After that, DiDomenico retired the last 10 batters including striking out the side in the seventh just as the rain came back.
“For our team, with the conference that we play in, it’s a very, very tough conference,” Trell said. “We had a couple losses early in the conference which put us in position where we weren’t going to compete for the conference title. So at that point in time we’re … continuing to build for the tournaments and then peak at the right time and I think we’re doing that.”
Boardman had 17 hits. Petrus had two triples and a single while driving in four runs. DeMarino had three hits, DeFabio had a double and a single, and four Spartans — DiDomenico, Julie Sokal, DeMarinis and Olbrych — drove in two runs apiece.
A year ago, Boardman lost to Perry, 3-2, in the regional final. The year before that, Hudson beat the Spartans, 1-0, and Trell said his team used that loss as motivation.
“Yeah, we brought a little bit of that with us today,” he said. “And obviously, on Saturday, Hoover is a good opponent. We’ve played them a couple of times this year and haven’t beaten them yet. On Saturday we’re going to come and play every inning.”