ITCL rivals will match up for 3rd meeting
By Brandon Judeh
Lisbon
Ever since the Jackson-Milton softball players lost the Inter Tri-County League title to rival Western Reserve there has been one thing on their mind.
A rematch.
Jackson-Milton (23-4) earned that chance on Thursday by defeating Mineral Ridge 2-1 to move on to the Division IV district championship.
Western Reserve advanced with a 12-5 victory over Columbiana.
Bluejay seniors Katie Santor and Shannon Ricketson are relishing their chance to finally beat the Blue Devils.
“It’s exciting to get a third chance to beat Western Reserve and it is amazing to be playing for a district title in my final year,” said Ricketson.
Added Santor: “Our goal since the beginning of the season has been to ‘win the last game’ and we are looking forward to doing it, because us seniors never want it to end.”
It was a tightly-contested game throughout as Jackson-Milton’s Paije Kiraly and the Rams’ (19-9) Meghan Garland matched each other pitch for pitch.
Garland struck out nine while Kiraly scattered seven hits.
“Paije gets better when she has runs, she relaxes more and the defense came up huge today and played very well,” said Jackson-Milton coach Kelly Snowden.
The Bluejays scored both their runs in the fourth inning. Ricketson singled to lead off and scored all the way from first on Caitlyn Carney’s single to right field.
Kiraly helped her own cause with an RBI single to make it 2-0.
Mineral Ridge made things interesting in the sixth when Allissa Sparks doubled in a run to cut the lead to one, but once again Kiraly pitched her way out of trouble.
Western Reserve 12, Columbiana 5
Western Reserve came from behind to defeat Columbiana.
The Clippers (20-6) jumped out to an early 5-1 lead thanks to a bases-clearing single by Sierra Ross in the second inning.
The Blue Devils answered with seven runs in the third inning as they batted around.
April Lude spearheaded the inning with a two-run double and Hannah Mowery capped it off with a two-run single to give Western Reserve an 8-5 lead.
Lude also had a big game on the mound.
After taking over for Sissy Stubbs in the third inning Lude was able to stifle the Clippers’ offense and retired 12 of the final 13 batters.
“A big thing with our team is we always talk about staying on even keel, we had that big inning and it really helped us a lot,” said coach Laura Amero.
Lude also knocked in five runs on three hits and fell a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.
The win gives Western Reserve the chance to accomplish a rare feat — beat a team three times in one season.
“It’s going to be a big challenge, we are really excited and we are confident that we can get this done and win the district,” said Lude.