Thursday, April 21, 2016
Rutherford’s clutch hit, Rinaldi’s HR lift Mooney
By GARY HOUSTEAU
BOARDMAN
A two out, two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh lifted Cardinal Mooney to a 6-5 victory over arch-rival Ursuline at Fields of Dreams.
Sophomore Kayla Rutherford helped her own cause on the mound when she singled to right field to score freshman Gia Difabio to tie the game at 5.
Difabio began the rally with a two-out double to right-center field and then advanced to third on a passed ball before scoring on Rutherford’s clutch hit.
And when the ball got through the legs of the right fielder and rolled all the way to the fence, freshman Conchetta Rinaldi, who was given an intentional pass to first after Difabio moved over to third, came all the way around to score the walk-off, game-winning run on the miscue.
“It was an outstanding high school softball game,” said Mooney head coach Mark Rinehart. “It was not perfect, not a masterpiece. Both teams made mistakes I’m sure they wish they didn’t make. We made plays, they made plays, luckily we got to bat last today and we got a big hit that got through at the right time.”
Mooney all but gave away a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth when Adi Quattro, with two outs, reached first on a strike out and passed ball. After stealing second, Quattro came around to score the tying run when the ball got away from the first baseman on an errant throw on an infield single by Lorraine Fitzgerald. Senior Megan Ross then knocked Fitzgerald in with a single to put Ursuline up 5-4. Ross had two big hits for Ursuline on the day.
“It was a great game, it was a fun game, unfortunately it came down to two strikes, two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and I don’t think you can ask much more for a better game,” said Ursuline head coach Mike Kernan. “I have a great bunch of kids working hard, young kids, and I’m really proud of how they kept coming back today. They really wanted the game but [Mooney] got a couple of clutch hits at the end of the game and you have to give them credit for executing at the end. But we were right there and the game could have gone either way. It just stinks being on the bad end of that stick.”
The Cardinals got on the board first in the bottom of the first when Rinaldi hit a three-run blast to dead center field. Ursuline battled back to tie it at 3 before Difabio singled in the go-ahead run giving Mooney a 4-3 lead after five innings.
Difabio had three hits to lead the offense for the Cardinals.
“Conchetta is just an amazing player — she’s just a freshman,” Rinehart said. “The way she brings it, sometimes you have to remind yourself she’s just a freshman. And Gia Difabio, another freshman, had two big, clutch hits today. What can you say? She drove in what we thought was going to be the winning run to make it 4-3 and then she keeps us alive with two outs in the last inning.”
But it was Rutherford who stole the show for the Cardinals at the end with her game-winning hit.
“She came through with the big hit in her last at bat,” Rinehart said. “I thought they would pitch around Rinaldi and I thought they were playing with fire if they did. And that’s what happened.”
But Rutherford did pretty well on the mound as well, striking out 12 Irish batters in gaining the complete-game victory.
“Kayla makes a big difference to our team when she’s on,” Rinehart said.
“She didn’t let anything rattle her today — the pressure of the big game, the big crowd. She stood tall on the mound and when some plays didn’t go our way behind her she didn’t get flustered. She showed her leadership today in a big way.”
The win improves Mooney’s record to 4-7. Ursuline drops to (8-3).
“We knew we had a shot in the game despite the difference in records and plus the fact it’s Mooney-Ursuline,” Rinehart said.
“Our kids were up for the game, they came to play. I’m extremely proud of my team, we’re a young team, we battled through some mistakes. We had the lead, we lost the lead, we had the lead again and lost it, and we came back one last time. I thought we played with hearts of champions today so I’m real proud of my team. We’re going to build on this win and we’re going to keep working hard and we’re going to try to become the team we think we can be.”