43
Fitch’s Franken keeps Poland off-balance on opening day
By Brian Dzenis
POLAND
Alex Franken’s stuff doesn’t overpower hitters, but opponents can’t seem to consistently hit her.
Using a lot of off-speed pitches, the Austintown Fitch senior kept Poland’s softball team off-kilter for a 5-3 win on opening day.
“Alex is very much a location pitcher, she’s dominant when she’s on her game,” Fitch coach Steve Ward said. “She did a very good job keeping these strong Poland hitters at bay.”
Pitching the entire contest, Franken gave up six hits and zero walks, and she struck out seven. She shut out and one-hit the Bulldogs through the first three innings before they began to adjust to her arsenal of curveballs, screwballs and change-ups.
“Everything was working, so today was a great day,” Franken said. “I had to be more precise [later in the game], but no pitches were different. I was just hitting my spots.”
In her first at-bat, Franken smacked a double that landed just short of the left-field fence to score freshman Lainie Simons in the top of the first inning.
Poland got on the board in the bottom of the fourth thanks to Harley Kish’s RBI single. Lauren Sienkiewicz added another run after Fitch made a wild throw to first base.
The Falcons’ bats had their best inning right after that. McKenzie Luknis smashed a two-run double and Julia McMenamin followed up with her team’s third RBI double.
“We just stayed level with the ball and went out there with the mindset that ‘we’re gonna crush this ball,’” Luknis said.
Luknis and Franken were the two most productive hitters for the Falcons, with Luknis going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Franken went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Per usual with Fitch softball, those two are expected to be the team’s top hitters.
“For the past two years, both of them have absolutely been in that spot,” Ward said. “They own it and I’m so proud of how they adjusted and made big plays when we needed them.”
Poland senior Kristyn Svetlak was tagged for all five of the Falcons’ runs. She gave up 11 hits and zero walks while also striking out 10. The Bulldogs’ defense did not have the best day with four errors.
“That’s the game, sometimes you’re the beneficiary and other times you’re the victim,” Poland coach Matt Campbell said. “I think the girls were a little bit nervous for opening day, but it’s not an excuse, it’s opening day for them too.”
Christina Tucker scored Fitch’s final run in the top of the sixth off of Simons’ sacrifice fly. Poland second baseman Sarah Boccieri hit a double to center field to score Claire Testa in the ensuing half-inning,
Poland’s Amanda Wire was able to get to first base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but that was as far as Poland’s rally went. Wire was retired at second after Svetlak hit a ground ball.
“I think we ran out of time, but Fitch played a great game,” Campbell said. “We started slow, I thought their pitcher did a nice job keeping us off balance the majority of the game until we started to click a little bit and the made more plays than we did.”
Fitch’s defense acquitted itself well, only giving up one error.
“We’re still a very young team, we’re still very inexperienced in some positions, but they’re all in, they play heavy travel ball,” Ward said. “They’re all big time gamers out there so when you look at our left side of the field, we have a freshman, a sophomore and a freshman between third short and left.
“It will be a little learning on the job, but they’re up for the challenge.”
The two teams will meet again today at 5 p.m. at 9-11 Memorial Park in Austintown.