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Experienced Medina ousts Fitch
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Fitch pitcher Alex Franken works during a Division I regional semifinal against Medina on Thursday at the University of Akron.
By Ryan Buck
AKRON
The first inning of Austintown Fitch’s Division I regional semifinal softball showdown with Medina left a lasting impression. Perhaps experience is the best teacher.
A stellar first inning and a sound pitching performance from starter Megan Paradise ended the Falcons’ tournament run as Medina — the defending regional champion — outlasted Fitch, 5-3, on Thursday at the University of Akron.
The Bees’ first four batters reached base against Fitch starter Alex Franken. Madison Tata’s opposite-field single to left field drove in Vanessa Scoarste and Jessie Holzman and Tata later jogged home on a sacrifice fly to give Medina a 3-0 first-inning lead.
“We wanted to go into this game and not get too overanxious about it [and] treat it as if it was just another game, but unfortunately we had a little bit of nerves,” said ninth-year coach Melody Ward, whose Falcons were the first Fitch team to reach the regionals since 2005. “We have a young squad that hadn’t been in this type of championship game in a long time.”
The Bees added another run in the second on a two-out triple from Tata and looked to put the game out of reach before Franken settled down.
Fitch’s precocious freshman ace retired six of the next seven Medina batters.
“We know that Alex is a very determined individual,” Ward said. “She’s been wanting to be the one. She wanted the ball in the circle.
“We got the girls together, got them all settled down and just told them, ‘You’ve got to believe.’ All season long we believed. We came up with great wins. We’ve won games towards the end of games before.”
The Falcons struck in the bottom of the second. Nicholette Zordich singled home Gabrielle Butcher to cut the Fitch deficit to 4-1.
Paradise struck out the next two hitters to get out of the second before Fitch could rally.
The junior kept the usually potent Falcons off-balance for much of the game.
“Megan does a great job of mixing her pitches,” said third-year Medina coach Jessica Toocheck. “When they started hitting the changeup, she went back to her other pitches and worked on getting ahead of batters.”
With one out and the bases empty in the bottom of the fifth inning, Fitch second baseman Cali Mikovich brought Fitch to within two. Mikovich drove a ball to the wall in left field for a triple and raced home when the relay throw missed its target.
Butcher scored on an error in the next inning to bring Fitch within one run, 4-3.
Medina came right back. In the top of the seventh, Maria Vanadia’s double to right-center field allowed Tata to race home from second for a 5-3 lead for the Bees.
“They were a little bit more polished [and] a little bit more experienced,” Ward said. “They had been here before and I think that kind of showed up, and they’re well-coached.”
Mikovich reached second with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Paradise retired the last two to close the contest, ending the young Falcons’ historic season.