CONNEAUT — It may have been wet and drizzly last night at the CLYO Complex, but the Junior All-Stars and 9-10 All Stars from Conneaut both lit things up Thursday night in their softball battles with the young ladies from Grand Valley and Madison, respectively.  

The Conneaut Juniors used a big fifth inning to take a lead against Grand Valley that turned out to be precarious at the end in a 9-7 victory to claim the District 1 title in their division.

Meanwhile the littlest ladies grabbed a big lead, saw it start to slip away then exploded for a big inning to claim their own District 1 title, 16-6, over Madison.

“They (Grand Valley) are one tough team,” Conneaut Juniors manager Troy Higley said. “They have a solid lineup and have really given us some battles the last couple years. I can almost see a good rivalry developing here because both programs are having a lot of success now.”

Momentum shifts and defensive steadiness proved to be the biggest contributors to the Conneaut win.

A five-run fifth inning turned the tide, although it may have really shifted half an inning before.

The first six Conneaut hitters reached base in the top of the fifth, five of them scored, and had it not been for alert play by Grand Valley defensively, it could have been much worse.

Tehya Higley led off with a walk. Winning pitcher Brianna Oatman sent a shot toward the left field pasture, but third baseman Erica Chernesky made a super stop of the ball, gathered her balance, and fired toward second base, her only serious chance for an out. The throw was there, but confusion about who was covering the bag resulted in a Conneaut runner getting to the base ahead of the throw.

A pair of wild pitches were added to the mix, and an error and another walk set the stage for Alyssa Bennett’s two-run single to center.

Bennett scored on a passed ball, and the Conneaut girls had turned a 3-3 game into a memory.

A single run in the sixth for Conneaut offset four runs by a Grand Valley team that never stopped believing it could come back.

“I was still confident in our girls even to the last inning,” Grand Valley manager Paul Byler said. “We had a rough inning, but these girls are always capable of hitting the ball well. I knew we were capable of winning this game, and I can’t say how proud I am of these girls for the super attitude and grit they play with.”

Down 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third, still looking for their first baserunner, Amber Sieracki drilled a one-out single to right center and Beth Weaver took a pitch in the leg for the team. Cassandra Gallo singled on the infield, a wild pitch plated a run.

Then a walk, fielder’s choice and two-run single from Chernesky knotted the count, putting momentum squarely in Grand Valley’s favor.

It didn’t last.

Conneaut followed that by going out in order in the fourth. In the bottom half of the frame, after Crystal Wengerd drew a leadoff walk, three-straight hitters took called third strikes, and the air shifted again toward Conneaut as they grabbed control with that five-run frame.

“Getting momentum back was a key thing for our girls tonight,” Higley said. “We played really good defense and got key hits.”

Payton Hanas was the only Conneaut player with more than one hit. She had a double as part of her night. Tehya Higley, Oatman, and Alexis Nelson each scored twice, and Bennett plated a pair with her big hit.

Grand Valley played well and made several very good plays on the night, but ones that should have been routine that turned into errors, four in all, led to all but one of the Conneaut runs being unearned.

Grand Valley also had little luck at the plate as Conneaut played sound defense with just two errors.

Oatman also walked only three, combining with just two Conneaut errors to limit extra chances to score.

Emiy Byler and Abby Takacs each scored twice, with Takacs and Amber Sieracki each having two hits. Erica Chernesky drove home three with her third inning single and a sharp ground ball in the fifth that scored Takacs with the second run of the frame. Single runs in each of the sixth and seventh tightened the game, but Conneaut held on.

Conneaut advances to state tourney action in Elyria the weekend of the 27th of July.

In the 9-10 year old contest, in which the winner heads to state play in Boardman that same weekend, Conneaut, which had beaten Madison, 11-1, earlier in the tourney, jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead.

“The girls hit really great tonight for us,” manager Terri Jo Mickle said. “We had some very smart base running that put us into position to score, and we had some big hits, too.”

Madison threw a scare into Conneaut, though, midway through the game.

“We did our best tonight against a great team,” manager Brian Cannady said. “We got down early, 6-0, and then scored five in a row to make it 6-5. They came right back with nine, but our girls really played the whole way with a great attitude. We fought back, since they beat us 11-1 before, so I can’t be prouder of all of them.”

Mickle alluded to that brief rally for Madison.

“I got a little nervous there when they (Madison) fought back,” she said. “Our girls rallied themselves, though. It took a total team effort, and that’s exactly what they gave all the way.”

Alert plays in the field made the difference for all the teams in this arena this night. Some were more special.

Conneaut’s big third inning of the Junior contest, while producing just two runs, could have been much worse had Grand Valley center fielder Cassandra Gallo not made a perfect relay to second baseman Jess Vormelker, who fired a strike to home to nail a runner.

In the third, when Grand Valley tallied three runs, with the bases loaded a sharp grounder was sent to third, and a perfect toss cut down the runner at the plate.

Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.

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