Hawk nearly perfect in Panthers' victory

MARIA STEIN - The weather was chilly at the Flyer Athletic Complex in Maria Stein, but Parkway's bats were warmed up.

And so was the right arm of Panther pitcher Haley Hawk. The three-time MAC Softball Player of the Year faced the minimum 15 batters and came away with a one-hitter. Hawk also contributed at the plate as the Panthers beat Marion Local 12-0 in five innings in MAC action.

The Flyers were unable to get a ball out of the infield until Rachel Partington broke up the perfect game with a single with one out in the bottom of the fourth. The Panther defense immediately kept the Flyers from having illusions of breaking the shutout when Marah Moeller grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. The only other ball to hit the outfield came in the fifth when Lexi Arling grounded to right field, but Grace Swander picked up the ball and threw to first for the 9-3 putout. Hawk closed out the game when Sam Pierron grounded off Hawk's glove right to Layne Claudy, who threw to first to complete the force out to end the game.

"A cold day and she was pounding the zone," said Parkway head coach Mark Esselstein. "By far, this was her best performance of the season. When the defense had to make plays, they made the plays."

"It was cold and Hawk was pitching pretty good," Flyers coach Jerry Moeller said. "We couldn't get anything going. They made nice plays (on defense).

Parkway started its scoring in the top of the first as Mackenzie Sipe and Bailey Strickler came home on a pair of wild pitches from Amber Schmitz. In the second, Macy Henkle and Stickler had RBI singles, Sipe brought home another run with a sacrifice fly. Another run scored on a dropped fly ball to make the score 6-0 after two innings.

After Claudy singled home Alyssa Miller in the third to make it 7-0, the Panthers added four in the fith. After Strickler singled, Hawk launched a Schmitz offering over the fence in left to make the score 9-0. After Bailey Bates grounded out and Lauren Henderson reached on an error, Miller homered to left to make it 11-0. The Panthers added their final run in the fifth off reliever Emily Nietfeld.

"The girls did a good job (of) waiting on Schmitz and hitting the ball where it was pitched," Esselstein said. "We had some good contributions up and down the order."

"Parkway is always going to hit the ball," Moeller said. "They're solid all the way through."

Strickler went 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Hawk was 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Nine different players had a hit for Parkway (7-1, 2-1 MAC).

Both teams return to action on Thursday. Parkway goes outside the league to face Shawnee while Marion Local (2-5, 1-3 MAC) hosts Fort Recovery.