ORWELL —
Just 24 hours ago, the Grand Valley softball team gift wrapped seven runs in an inning to lose to rival Pymatuning Valley by that exact number.
Wednesday, the Mustangs managed to avoid that bugaboo, though narrowly, in a 6-4 triumph over Ledgemont in Northeastern Athletic Conference play.
All seven Redskins who went to the plate in the first reached base. The Mustangs (9-15, 6-12) managed to wiggle off the hook having allowed just one run.
Autumn Lang and Morgan Caserta each reached on infield singles that, combined, made it about a third of the way up the third-base line.
Lang was gunned down attempting to steal by GV catcher Shar Miller and Caserta was erased on a fielder’s choice.
A throwing error got Ledgemont’s Janelle Jirousek into scoring position and a pair of walks loaded the bases. Rachel Cipolla chopped a ball up the third-base line, mirroring Lang and Caserta, for an infield single to score Jirousek.
Grand Valley pitcher Katie Paskey induced another groundball out to escape the inning down just 1-0.
Ledgemont pitcher Raven Caserta struck out the first two Mustangs of the home half of the second before issuing a pair of walks. Abby Paskey singled in run and Tayler Schimley singled in two more as the Mustangs took the lead.
“That hit was a big one for Tayler,” GV coach Beth Hooser said. “She’s been struggling a lot lately, and, being a senior, we need her to show the younger kids how to get things done. That hit was good for her confidence.”
Ledgemont (3-17, 2-13) batted through its order more than four times and had 23 runners reach base. It had seven hits, drew eight walks and reached base on four errors.
The Redskins just could not break through with the big hit.
“The key for us was minimizing the damage and avoiding the big innings like we had yesterday,” Hooser said in reference to the third inning of Tuesday’s loss to PV. “Making plays to stop rallies is the difference between winning and losing games.”
The Redskins made plays too, but they could not avoid the big hits from the Mustangs.
“It’s all a mental thing,” Ledgemont coach Katie Brainard said. “That’s been the story of our season, too. We are very young. Raven really brought her bat today. We played a great game as a team, but we’re struggling with the bats overall, and we didn’t get big hits when we needed them. We had plenty of baserunners, too.”
Raven Caserta ripped three doubles and walked.
Katie Paskey worked all sevon innings for the win, allowing seven hits and four earned runs, striking out four and walking eight.
Raven Caserta took the loss while giving up all six runs on nine hits and five walks. She fanned eight.
GV had more balance offensively. Abby Paskey, hitting ninth in the order, reached safely with a trio of singles. Shar Miller had a pair of hits, one a double to left-center in the third led to the fourth run for GV. She moved to third on a groundout by Katie Paskey and scored on a passed ball.
The Mustangs’ winning runs scored in the fifth. Tiffany Heath and Miller each singled leading the frame off. Both moved up on a passed ball and Chris Futty walked to load the bases with nobody out.
Miller strayed too far from third, though, and was thrown out in a rundown at home. Heath scored on a wild pitch and Miranda Ritter plated Futty with a double to the fence in left-center.
Katie Paskey withstood an error of her own and a single in the top of the seventh by snaring a grounder up the middle and throwing to first for the last out, and GV had avoided a catastrophic big inning.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
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