By Catrina Olsen
Cold weather didn’t get in the way of the girls of Chardon or Madison in a Chagrin Valley Conference softball match on April 21, as the Blue Streaks defeated the Hilltoppers. 5-1.
Both teams fought hard and the two sides were neck and neck for the first two innings.
The game got off to a slow start offensively with pop flies, walks, and strikeouts, on each side, but one hit at a time, both teams started to come alive.
The game remained scoreless heading into the third, but then Alissa Rose sent a double to deep center and went on to score the first run of the day, advancing from third to home on a wild pitch.
Chardon came right back to score in the bottom of the fourth, as Kayla Preziuso singled to center, followed by two walks to loaded the bases.
Rose Solar popped out to right field, but Preziuso tagged from third and scored to tie the game at one.
Rose worked her way out of the inning to limit the damage to one run.
Rose helped her own cause in the top of the fifth, hitting her second double of the day, and Gabby Blackford drove her in with an RBI double to reclaim the lead, 2-1.
In the top of the seventh, the bats came alive again with Madison scoring three more runs.
Rose was hit by a pitch to start the rally.
Blackford promptly added some insurance with a two-run homer, making it 4-1.
Blackford finished with a double, a homer and three RBI in the win.
Madison didn’t stop there, as Emma Montgomery singled and later came around to score, courtesy of Allie Berry’s RBI single.
Chardon pitcher Kayla Preziuso takes the loss, but went the distance, allowing five runs over seven innings (three of which came in the final inning).
Madison coach Dan Fertig was proud of his team’s all-around performance.
“We’re a good hitting team on our days, I mean it was just I tried to get them refocused, we try to hit the ball between the short stop and the second baseman, we definitely did that. We started off hitting some hard shots, but we were hitting them at people. We had patience, kept hitting them hard, (and knew) they’ll find holes.”
At least one player reached base for Madison in every inning.
Fertig believes Rose is a player who leads by example and she certainly did that against Chardon, hitting two doubles, scoring three of her team’s five runs and going the distance on the mound.
Rose finished the day allowing one run over seven innings, striking out nine in the win.
Rose noted after the game that the weather did have an effect on her fastball on the mound.
“I think it was hard to get spin on my fastball the most because I use my pointer finger and it was hard because of how cold it was but everything else was working well,” Rose said.
Madison will be back in action at South High School in Willoughby on April 24 at 4:30PM
Chardon will face Solon on April 22 at 11:00AM at Chardon’s homefield, Chardon Munson Field.
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