Experience paying off for Canfield

July 20, 2013 at 12:06a.m.

CANFIELD

A year ago, Kerry Durkin managed the Canfield 11-12 softball team to the Little League regional title game in Indianapolis.

Canfield came home with a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to host Indiana to fall one game short of a trip to the Little League World Series in Portland, Ore.

Being so close and yet so far away last summer has served as inspiration for his Canfield 13-14 Junior League squad. More than half of last year’s 11-12 team are on Canfield’s undefeated 13-14 team.

At 26-0, Durkin said his squad is taking nothing for granted.

“I told my wife, Julie, that in a lot of ways I felt more pressure playing Boardman in the recent District tournament,” Durkin said. “It’s always a battle when Boardman and Canfield get together, yet it remains a very friendly, intense rivalry.

“While we were able to beat them two straight, it still wasn’t very easy by any stretch of the imagination.”

Today at 6 p.m. in Englewood, Canfield, winners of Little League District 2, will take on District 11 winner Lucasville in the double elimination tournament.

The winner will play Grand Valley on Sunday at 3 p.m. A loser’s bracket game will follow.

The championship game is slated for Monday at 6 p.m. A second game, if needed, will follow.

The winner will advance to the Junior League regional tournament at Akron’s Firestone Stadium from Aug. 3-8. Nine states will send teams to battle for the regional crown.

Durkin said his team’s success this year is due in part to having four solid pitchers.

Bridget Durkin leads the team with a 13-0 record. The others are Jenna Gibson (6-0), Kayla Troxil (3-0) and Maddy Johns (3-0).

“Pitching, without a doubt, has been the cornerstone of my last two teams,” Kerry Durkin said. “They don’t walk many opposing batters, have come up with the big out when we needed it most and we’ve also relied on solid defense.

“We just don’t beat ourselves.”

Defensively, shortstop Mia Kindinis, third baseman Johns and catcher Amelia Manenti are the anchors.

“When the ball is hit, we know that we have solid defense behind us,” Bridget Durkin said. “Our defense allows us to pitch our game.”

Four players from last season — Jill Baker, Emerson Fletcher, McKenna Carey and Alana Marzich — are 12 years-old.

Replacing them are 14-year-olds Manenti, Maura Kennedy, Bridget Sweeney and Troxil.

Kennedy (.490) is the team’s leading hitter, Manenti (462) is second in average while Troxil (.375) and Sweeney (349) are also heavy-duty hitters.

Also on the team are Ally Lambert, Sidney Lambert, Ellie Dundics, Jenna Gibson, Sydney Fabry and Savannah Moss.

Sweeney said the key to winning the first game is getting an early lead.

“We need to jump on Lucasville so that we can play with the lead,” Kennedy said.

Durkin called Ally Sammarco (.431), who has a team best four home runs and 21 runs batted in, and Kennedy “two of the very best athletes I have ever coached.”

When Sammarco is at second base, Kennedy plays center field and vice-versa.

Sammarco is the lead-off batter.

Left fielder Ally Lambert (.397) was a member of last year’s state championship team and would love nothing better than to be a repeat champion.

“We’re skilled defensively and hit the ball [well], but another key is that we take advantage of the oppositions’ mistakes,” Lambert said.