ASHLAND, OHIO — The Elyria softball team lost a lot of experience from their 2009 state championship team, but that has not stopped the three upperclassmen from being key parts of the Pioneers’ early success in 2010.
Elyria improved to 8-2 overall with a 2-1 win over Illinois’ Bartlett (7-4) Friday night at the 17th annual Wendy’s Spring Classic Softball Invitational at the main field of Ashland’s Brookside Park.
"I’m real happy," said Elyria coach Ken Fenik. "We’ve been struggling a little bit, trying to get stuff fine-tuned. It’s a project in the works. We still do a lot of things wrong. Today, we did enough things to win. Defensively, they made a lot of good plays out there today.
"That was an awesome softball game," he added. "That’s what you want when you play a softball game. I’m sure the fans enjoyed it, but I’m happy. I’ll take it."
Junior pitcher Kristen Boros gave up just one run and struck out seven Hawks, but it was her ability to work out of trouble which made her invaluable to the Pioneers.
After cruising through the first three innings, Bartlett’s Lisa Matsie earned a walk to start the fourth. A single from Kelsey Warrick and a walk to Katie Popovich loaded the bases with two outs. However, Boros got a ground ball and a fielder’s choice ended the threat. In the seventh inning, Boros again found herself working with the bases loaded. A groundout and fly out to left field sealed the win for the Pioneers.
"Early in the game, we struggled with the high pitch," said Bartlett coach James Wolfsmith. "We kept chasing up; we kept chasing up. We did a much better job of laying off the stuff up. She’s got great pitches, moves the ball real well. You force any great pitcher to come into the strike zone and you’re going to get better cuts at it.
"Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the big hit when we had the chance."
Boros was quick to credit her team for calling timeout when the bases were loaded to give her a minute to regain composure in the seventh inning.
"My team had my back," said Boros. "They saw when I got frustrated; they came and helped me. That helped a lot just to get my nerves to calm down. They didn’t really say anything; they just know to just let me have my time and I’ll be fine."
Fenik was equally impressed with his players, especially senior Ashley Stolarski who signaled the timeout.
"We didn’t crumble," said Fenik. "The girls came together on their own and I tell them, ‘This is your team; it’s not my team.’ Each year, I try to have a team make its own identity and they’re starting to make their own identity."
While Boros controlled the circle, junior shortstop Cynthia Woodard came up with the big play offensively. Woodard led off the fourth inning and crushed the 1-0 pitch from Callie Dennison over the centerfield fence.
"I just saw a meatball high in the zone and I just went with it," said Woodard. "I guess it helped a lot. It came down to the last inning and the last runner on third."
In the first inning, Woodard reached base when a pop fly was dropped on the lip of the outfield grass. It was Bartlett’s second error of the inning and it led to Elyria’s first run of the game, which was scored on a wild pitch.
"The challenge isn’t a big deal because getting a team like Elyria, we know how good they are," Wolfsmith said. "That helped that we knew who we were playing and what they were capable of. If we come in and play somebody that maybe wasn’t as good or that we didn’t know, then that would have been more of a challenge.
"The first inning was a little bit tight, probably for sitting around for so long," concluded Wolfsmith. "I thought we tightened up after that first inning, made some nice plays and made real nice catches on a windy day. It’s tough in the outfield to catch balls in the wind."
Matt Florjancic is a freelance reporter and sports announcer for WOBL and WDLW Radio.
