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South Range begins title defense successfully
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Stevie Taylor of South Range shows the ball to the umpire after she tagged out Liberty baserunner Allyson Solarz during a Division III sectional softball game Thursday in Beaver Township. The Raiders blanked the Leopards, 10-0.
By RYAN BUCK
BEAVER TWP.
In search of its second consecutive district title, the South Range softball team moved one step closer with a convincing 10-0 defeat of Liberty in Thursday’s sectional game.
The Raiders jumped on the visiting Leopards early, scoring four runs at the outset and shutting down the Liberty offense throughout the contest, which was ended by the run rule.
Leading the way for the Raiders was starting pitcher and leadoff hitter Carly DeRose, who struck out nine in four innings.
The junior located her pitches effectively, even as she was the Raiders’ catalyst in the batter’s box.
“I’m really honored to be the leadoff batter. It shows that my coach trusts me to hit the ball and give us a good start in each inning,” said DeRose.
Following DeRose’s leadoff walk in the first, the Raiders had a little luck on their side. Back-to-back infield singles and a throwing error scored DeRose. Morgan Renforth then came home on a groundout.
Credit the Raiders’ team speed with their third run as freshman catcher Sarah Moretti’s perfectly-executed bunt scored Darrian Yanek, who was running from third on the play.
“The first two, Carly and Morgan, are quick, they hit the ball with power, they can put the ball down, and that’s the thing with those two at the top of the order,” said South Range coach Don Feren. His speedy lineup utilized three run-scoring squeeze plays, two with Renforth at the plate.
“They get on then we’ve got three, four, five who can all out it out of the park. Getting those two on is key because now that pitcher can’t take a break,” said Feren.
Stevie Taylor’s dash to home plate on a wild pitch pushed the Raiders lead to 4-0.
The young Leopards, with no seniors on the roster, were flustered by South Range’s strong start.
“We’ve got a really young team. We start making errors and they start blaming others, officials, and we have to learn how to adjust to that,” said Liberty coach Deanna Slifka.
Liberty’s freshman starter, Lyndsay Johnson, settled in after the first inning with four strikeouts and escaping several jams, but got little help from the offense.
“We struggled offensively, obviously, with not being able to get the bat on the ball there,” said Slifka. “I think if we would’ve been able to get the bat on the ball, we would’ve recovered from that first inning just fine and been able to come back.”
DeRose’s leadoff triple and subsequent run in the second preceded scores in the next two innings. Now leading 7-0, DeRose ceded the pitcher’s circle to Yanek in the fourth, who notched four strikeouts.
With an 8-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, cleanup hitter Kristin Robinson tripled, scoring two runs and ending the contest.
The Raiders play at Newton Falls today in a sectional final.
“We’re all mentally prepared and we all want to win so bad; we want to be back in the district championship game,” DeRose said.