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St. Marys' Kelly Holsinger slides into home as Fort Recovery pitcher Sophie Pearson waits for the throw on a wild pitch at The Fortress at the LeFevre Family Baseball and Softball Complex on Monday.
FORT RECOVERY - St. Marys stranded five runners in the first three innings, but the Roughriders cashed in in the fourth.
Kelly Holsinger's three-run double highlighted a five-run fourth at St. Marys beat Fort Recovery 5-2 at the Fortress at the LeFevre Family Baseball and Softball Complex on Monday.
"We had that one hit and that one inning," St. Marys coach Kendra Solomon said. "We strung together enough hits to make ourselves feel comfortable."
"The struggle for us is that we have one bad inning, usually," Fort Recovery coach Carrie Schoen said. "If we don't have that one bad inning, it's a whole different ballgame."
Renee Sweigart got the Roughriders started with a one-out infield single, narrowly beating shortstop Cali Wendel's throw to first. KayLynn Mabry followed with a bloop over third, and though courtesy runner Kailey Smith held up near first fearing the ball would be caught, Wendel's throw got away from Ava Grisez at second and both runners were safe.
Fort Recovery shortstop Cali Wendel tags out St. Marys' KayLynn Mabry in a rundown in the fifth inning on Monday.
Freshman starter Jenna Homan threw a wild pitch on the way to a full-count walk, and that was enough for Coach Schoen, who brought Sophie Pearson over from first base to take over in the circle.
"It's hard for any of our pitchers to come in at that point in time," Coach Schoen said. "We had bases loaded, one out. She'd warmed up before the game, but that's a lot of pressure to put on her."
Pearson hit Ashlyn Ross with a 3-1 pitch to bring home the game's first run, and Holsinger hit an arcing line drive that got past left fielder Ava Schoen and cleared the bases. Holsinger moved up on a groundout and came home on a wild pitch to make it 5-0.
"It was a perfect spot, right where we wanted it to be," Solomon said. "Clutch time to make it happen."
Adyson Van De Keere, meanwhile, found her groove for St. Marys (4-4) after the Indians threatened early. Wendel lined a single into right and stole second with one out in the first inning, Pearson singled through the left side and Maddie Guggenbiller worked a seven-pitch walk to load the bases.
Van De Keere got a foul pop-up for the second out before Grisez hit a sharp line drive toward left field and Cadence Hirschfeld snared it with a leaping grab to end the inning.
St. Marys shortstop Cadence Hirschfeld makes a leaping catch against Fort Recovery.
"That sets the tone right there," Solomon said. "If that goes through, that's different momentum, a different feeling. When you can have a play like that on a nice hit, that's huge."
Fort Recovery (2-2) got a single and a two-out error in the second, but Van De Keere bore down from there. The Indians put just three runners on in the next four innings, with a pair of two-out singles and a dropped third strike.
"Sometimes, the beginning of the game just gets like that," Solomon said. "Get in there, get a feel for the ground sometimes, just get a feel for everything. I think also, once we get those runs for her, it helps her settle in too. Makes it a little easier, not so much pressure on her to make something happen."
In the seventh, Fort Recovery's bats finally warmed up for a late charge. Audra Bubp hit a pop fly that dropped in front of centerfielder Makenzie Henning, then stole second before Van De Keere got a three-pitch strikeout and a lineout to right to put the Indians on the ropes.
Bubp moved up to third on a passed ball and Pearson hit a blooper into right field to score a run, sliding into second with a double. Guggenbiller followed with a drive into the corner in right, scoring Pearson, but right fielder Bailey Weigel fired the ball to Hirschfeld and Hirschfeld relayed it to Holsinger in time to tag out Guggenbiller at third to end the game.
"I was sending her all the way," Coach Schoen said. "We had two outs, we're struggling to get the bat on the ball. It's going to take two really good throws to get her out - which it did. But we've got to get a chance, at that point in time.
"As much as we were struggling to get the bat on the ball today, I felt like if we could just produce that one option here and get her to third, maybe we can get somebody to hit a ball and get her in. But I had to give it all we had."
Van De Keere earned the win with 11 strikeouts and just one walk, while also going 3-for-3 at the plate. Pearson went 3-for-4 as the Indians tallied eight hits.
Fort Recovery returns to action today as Versailles comes to town for a Midwest Athletic Conference game. St. Marys returns home to face Defiance in a Western Buckeye League contest.
