Softball celebration
Canfield’s Gina Mancini leads off of second base during Monday’s Mahoning-Trumbull All-Star games at Candlelite Knolls in Bazetta Township. In the second game, Mancini was one of three players to catch for both teams.
Mahoning, Trumbull squads shared players during a split
By Tom Williams
BAZETTA TOWNSHIP
The beauty of high school softball all-star games comes when the rules of substitution are ejected.
During Monday’s doubleheader at Candlelite Knolls, a cleanup hitter accidentally moved into the leadoff position, pitchers alternated innings and a catching shortage had players switching sides.
And no one minded.
“The girls had a great time,” Mahoning coach Reid Lamport said after the Mahoning and Trumbull squads split.
In the first game, Mahoning defeated Trumbull 6-3, with Boardman’s Nicola Gabriele and Struthers’ Rachel Affagato combining for the pitching win.
In the second game, Champion’s Lindsay Swipas tossed a five-hit shutout to lead Trumbull to a 13-0 victory.
In the opener, South Range’s Kristen Robinson hit a single and two doubles in her first three at-bats in the cleanup position.
When Lamport substituted every player except Robinson, the Mahoning batting lineup was so rattled that Robinson’s next at-bat came in the lead-off spot. (No one was keeping a scorebook in the Mahoning dugout and, more importantly, the Trumbull coaching staff was cool with whomever came to the plate).
“No, I had no idea,” said Robinson, who called the experience of playing for Lamport “a whole lot of fun.
“He has just two rules: have fun and don’t get hurt.”
Robinson’s second double drove in Jackson-Milton’s Katie Santor and Canfield’s Gina Mancini for a 6-0 Mahoning lead in the fourth inning. Canfield catcher Laura Beck also hit a two-run double while Santor’s other hit was a triple.
“It’s fun to get all the girls from different schools to come together and play,” said Beck who added praise for the coach of her archrival.
“It was easy to connect with him,” said Beck of Lamport who is retiring after 23 years as Poland’s head coach. “And it was fun because he’s [been] my rival — it was different but definitely exciting.”
Warren JFK’s Chanel Thornton hit two doubles for Trumbull.
Trumbull coaches Cheryl Weaver (Champion) and Jim Nicula (Mathews) split their overall squad in two. Their second group featured players from Weaver’s Division III state champions and their All-American Conference rivals from Girard.
“At first, I was going to have the Girard girls playing in the first game,” Weaver said. “But we’ve had good competition with them so I thought why not play them together?”
Nicula added, “They respect each other so much.”
For the second game, Lamport put all 17 of his batters in the lineup.
“Oh, that’s got to be hard for anyone keeping score,” Gabriele said.
What Trumbull lacked was a catcher so Beck caught Swipas in the first inning and Mooney’s Katrina Larson took a turn. Then Mancini took over behind the plate even though her last regular catching experience “was when I played 10-under.”
Swipas said the rotating catchers didn’t faze her.
“It was fine,” Swipas said. “Laura caught me last week in the all-North East Ohio [game] and Gina plays travel ball with me and sometime catches me.”
Trumbull scored five times in the first and four more in the second inning. Girard’s Bryanna Jay’s two-run double was followed by teammate Nikki Mazzella’s two-run homer.
“The key was they had our catcher,” Lamport joked.
Mancini spent time behind the plate for both teams and almost caught Mahoning’s Affagato stealing second.
“Way to close, Mancini,” Lamport teased from the third-base coaching box.
Mancini said playing for Lamport was a surprise.
“He’s a great coach so playing for him, I never thought that would happen,” Mancini said. “Poland-Canfield is a big rivalry.”