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Falcons soar over Cardinals
Irons, Fusco lead undefeated Jefferson to AAC Red crown
By Tom Williams
CANFIELD
Jefferson softball pitcher Alyssa Irons was surprised when she was told that she took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of Tuesday’s showdown against Canfield.
“I thought I had a poor performance today,” said Irons after she tossed a most unusual two-hitter in an 11-4 victory that clinched outright the All-American Conference Red Tier for the undefeated Falcons. “I was definitely not my usual self on the mound [but] I had my team to back me up.”
Kaycee Fusco especially had her back, driving in six runs with three hits, including a homer and double.
“I had no idea,” Fusco said of the Cardinals’ lack of hits in their first five at-bats. “We knew they were a tough team from playing them last year.”
Before the game, Canfield (15-6, 8-3) needed to win to have a chance to tie the Falcons (15-0, 11-0) for the crown in today’s rematch.
“Last year, we were in the White Tier, this year they moved us up,” Jefferson coach Amy Durkovic said. “We knew we were going to have better competition, which has been great for us. We’ve needed this.”
In 2015, Jefferson qualified for state after defeating Canfield, 3-2, in the Division II regional semifinal at Akron’s Firestone Stadium.
“These teams have helped us polish up what we need to do,” Durkovic said. “There really wasn’t a weak team in the conference.”
Despite a hitting shortage, the Cardinals had opportunities early. In the first inning, Ally Sammarco and Jenna Gibson walked but were stranded.
Powered by Fusco’s three-run homer in the third inning, the Falcons took a 4-0 lead.
“It was a changeup,” said Fusco of her blast to left field. She said she knew it was gone as soon as it left her bat. “It felt good,” the third baseman said.
The Cardinals responded by loading the bases (two walks, one hit-batter).
With two outs, senior catcher Amelia Manenti stepped in hoping to make a dent in the Falcons’ lead. She smoked a 2-2 pitch down the left-field line.
“It was pretty close, but I knew it was foul, I could see it curving,” Manenti said.
Irons’ ninth pitch to Manenti was ball four, scoring Maura Kennedy.
Manenti said she’s not surprised at how well the Falcons are doing.
“Maura and I played them when we were younger,” Manenti said. “They’ve been good since then.”
Manenti thinks the Cardinals will do better in their second chance against Irons.
“A lot of us were nervous,” Manenti said. “We were reminiscing on what happened last year at regionals — an intimidation factor, I think.
“I feel we can hit off her — we’re good hitters.”
Junior Bridget Durkin (7-4) started for Canfield and took the loss.
After the Falcons scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning for an 8-1 lead, Canfield coach Ray Melewski replaced Durkin with senior Kayla Troxil. She struck out her first two batters to end the inning.
Irons’ shaky inning was the sixth inning when she needed 36 pitches to escape as the Cardinals sent nine batters to the plate. Troxil’s base hit over second base scored Manenti.
After Sammarco was hit by a pitch to score Chloe Cruz, Kennedy singled to score Samantha Maas.
“They are good,” Melewski said. “Those girls hit anything, I mean anything. Bridget was hitting her spots — they are very disciplined batters.”
The Falcons added three runs in the seventh inning.
Melewski rotates his pitchers and said Troxil will get the start in today’s rematch at the JAGS Complex.