Lakeview averts meltdown, holds off Girard

May 12, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

By charles grove

cortland

With the rainy weather it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine for the Lakeview Bulldog softball team on Wednesday.

But by the end there were plenty of smiles as Lakeview held off a Girard comeback to win a Division II sectional final, 4-3.

The Bulldogs move on to a district semifinal against Poland in Alliance on Tuesday.

Both offenses were held in check through the first two innings before a crack of thunder caused a 30-minute delay.

Freshman pitcher Cait Kelm got the win, allowing six hits after holding the Indians hitless through 32/3 innings.

In the bottom of the third the Bulldogs were able to push across a run. Girard pitcher Karlee Byrne struck out Madison Buch, but the ball got to the backstop and a wild throw to first advanced Buch to second. Two groundouts later Buch scored the game’s first run.

Girard’s first chance came in the fifth when Hannah Jones hit a lead-off triple down the right-field line. But after an infield single, Kelm struck out Abby Porter and then got Rosie Madertiz and Melanie Bakes to pop out to end the threat.

Girard head coach Charlie Mazzella said Kelm’s changing of speeds was a big reason for his team’s inability to get timely hits. The Indians left eight runners on base.

“The first few times through the lineup her changeup was really working,” Mazzella said. “She was mixing up the speeds good and it kind of kept us off balance.”

The chances Girard couldn’t cash in on in the fifth were magnified when the Bulldogs scored three in the bottom half to break the game open.

McKenna Cannon led off with a single to short and Buch hit a bunt single to put runners on first and second. A few batters later Kylee Mann hit a sharp ground ball to Bakes at short. Her throw home got away allowing Cannon and Buch to score.

A wild pitch later allowed Mann to score to make it 4-0 and it looked bad for Girard, but the Indians went down swinging in the later innings.

Jessica Dohy had an RBI groudout in the top of the sixth to get the Indians on the board and a dropped third strike allowed Sam Dohy to cut the lead to 4-2.

Hannah Jones came home to score on an RBI single a batter later to make it 4-3 before Kelm got out of the inning with a strikeout.

The Bulldogs went quietly in the sixth and nerves and emotions were high. Lakeview players started bickering in the dugout and Kelm was in tears after a strikeout, frustrated with a hitting slump. Her teammates did their best to psyche her up to get the final three outs.

“I was nervous because in the past we’ve gotten into situations like that and not been able to keep it together,” Lakeview catcher Sam Marino said. “But I had faith we’d pull it out.”

Maderitz hit a bullet line drive to first to lead off the seventh, but Tori Wells snagged it, triggering a large exhale from Kelm. Bakes then smashed a ball to left-center that reached the wall but was hauled in by Beady Titus for the out. A groundout to third two batters later ended the suspense.

Given another inning, Mazzella said he thinks his squad could’ve come up with the victory.

“That’s been kind of the season for us all year,” Mazzella said. “We were a slow-starting team and we always came on late. We’d hit the ball late but we just ran out of outs.”