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Poland defeats Howland after tribute to upperclassman
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Poland’s Erin Gabriel is greeted by teammates, including Marissa Trevis (12), Arlia Duarte (10) and Kalie Benson (21), as she heads home after hitting a grand slam in the fourth inning of Wednesday’s softball game against Howland in Poland. As the starting pitcher, Gabriel posted 13 strikeouts and allowed only two hits in the Bulldogs’ 17-2 win over the Tigers.
By RYAN BUCK
POLAND
The most successful senior class in Poland High School softball history celebrated its Senior Night on Wednesday with a resounding, run-shortened 17-2 victory over All-American Conference visitor Howland.
As usual, Poland’s senior starting pitcher Erin Gabriel was a catalyst in her team’s win, posting 13 strikeouts and allowing only two hits. She also helped her cause with a grand slam in a fourth inning outburst that saw 12 Bulldogs cross home plate.
In addition to Gabriel, Coach Reid Lamport’s Bulldogs feature five seniors on the defending Division II state champions, who were also state finalists in 2010.
“Our seniors are special,” he said. “The girls understand their roles, play those roles, and their goal is to help the team as much as they can. They’ve shown great leadership in preseason and they’re showing it now during the season.”
One of the few challenges of the evening for the Poland ace was controlling the emotions of the event.
“It was weird to come to the field and see my name and how the underclassmen got the field really nice for us,” Gabriel said. “The adrenaline started going, the emotions were mixed; you’re sad but you really wanted to play.”
The Tigers, though, quickly announced their intentions of spoiling Senior Night in the top of the first inning. Sophomore third baseman Emily Price led off with a home run to right-center field to give Howland a 1-0 advantage.
“I went up there and I made contact with it. It’s one of those things where you kind of just knew,” said Price. “Especially against a pitcher like Erin, I was extremely happy.”
Poland responded in the bottom half of the first. Gabriel’s fly ball to left fell just beyond the reach of Howland left fielder Monica Kotyuk, scoring leadoff hitter Marissa Trevis. Gabriel then scored on a missed fly ball. Poland led 2-1.
“When I was younger I used to get all nervous and worried about it [facing a deficit], but with these girls I knew it was just going to take a matter of time before we were able to time it up because we’ve got some pretty good hitters,” said Lamport.
Gabriel found her groove in the second, striking out nine batters in the middle innings.
“Once you get into a rhythm, it’s really hard to get out of it,” Gabriel said. “Plus with the team I have that backs me up with the hits and the runs, I know they have my back all the time even when we got down in the first inning.”
The Bulldogs put the game away in the third and fourth innings when their powerful lineup went to work. Senior Jenna Modic singled home Meredith Testa before she came home on Taylor Miokovic’s line-drive double down the right field line. Kalie Benson’s RBI single then scored Miokovic.
In the fourth inning, the Bulldogs nearly batted around the order twice. Every hitter reached base at least once and scored to push their lead to 17-1.
“Before the game, I told the girls that we had to make routine plays,” Howland coach Bill Amero said. “We had some errors that led to several unearned runs. They hit the ball hard and they force errors. They’re a good team and you have to want to play teams like this.”
Price, Howland’s leading hitter, also recorded the Tigers’ other hit: an RBI single in the fifth inning.