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Poland fends off Canfield rally
By BRIAN DZENIS
CANFIELD
Shades of last year’s district championship showed up on Monday, but Poland made sure everything didn’t go according to script.
The Bulldogs almost squandered a five-run lead in the seventh inning, but recovered in time to fend off Canfield, 9-8, in All-American Conference play.
“It’s just one of those things with rivalries between good programs,” Poland coach Matt Campbell said. “You don’t get any more nervous.”
In last May’s district final, Poland entered the seventh inning with a four-run lead only to see Canfield rally and beat the Bulldogs, 5-4.
Poland (9-5) never trailed at any point in the game and with the exception of a three-run hiccup in the third inning, pitcher Kristen Svetlak was having a pretty good day until the seventh inning. Canfield’s Jill Baker reached first on an error, then Amanda Maneti sent her home with a double. Chloe Cruz hit an RBI single before Kalin Kovach blasted a two-run homer that bounced off the home team’s scoreboard.
As Kovach rounded third base, her teammates came out of the dug out do a “bowling ball” style celebration. Kovach was the ball and her teammates were the pins going down for a strike.
The antics were groan-inducing for the Poland fans in attendance, Svetlak wasn’t too bothered by it. After all, her team was still ahead by a run.
“They’re a good team and it made things a little close for comfort, but I was confident our team could get the win,” Svetlak said. “Canfield games always get you nervous, you always have to be on your A game.”
The senior hurler struck out Bridget Durkin and Ally Lambert lined out for the Bulldogs to escape with the win. Svetlak pitched the entire game, giving up eight runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out nine. The familiarity between the two teams made it hard for one to get an edge over the other.
“The other pitcher is my best friend, so we know how we each other plays,” Svetlak said, referring to Canfield’s Kayla Troxil. “Canfield always puts up a good battle.”
The Bulldogs were able to get at least a run in five out of seven innings by piling up 15 hits. Amanda Wire was 3 for 5 with two doubles and two RBIs and Svetlak had two hits and two RBIs.
There was some self-inflicting damage for Canfield (14-4) as a failed pick-off attempt allowed Poland to get a run in the top of the fifth. Cardinals coach Ray Melewski was disappointed to see his defense have those kind of miscues this late in the season.
“I told them we’re going into the latter part of the season, we should be getting better. We should be progressing. We actually declined,” Melewski said. “If I knew what it was, I’d be a genius. I don’t know what the source is.
“I told them we can’t expect to give up leads like that and expect to win ball games,” Melewski added.
Putting together multi-hit games for the Cardinals were Cruz with three RBIs on two singles and Maneti with a single and a double for two RBIs.
The two sides are set to meet again on Wednesday at Firestone Stadium in Akron.