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Lady Comets step up with game on line
(by Tony Lange - April 25, 2012)
Lady Comets step up with game on line
By TONY LANGE
Great athletes show up when the game is on the line, and the Solon softball players had ice in their veins during an extra-inning triumph against Mentor last week.
A shutout mound performance by Gabby Lucarelli, supported by defense and clutch hits in the bottom of the eighth inning, propelled the Lady Comets to a 1-0 victory, improving their record to 10-4.
Lucarelli is as predictable as Old Faithful, head coach LeAnn Fonner said.
"You know she's going to get the job done," Fonner said. "That's not something that you can teach a kid. You're either a big-moment, big-game kind of kid or you're not. She's a gamer. She shows up every single game, and you know exactly what you're going to get from her, and she's a competitor."
Lucarelli pitched a complete eight-inning game, throwing 65 strikes and 57 balls, while striking six players out, walking three, stranding three and giving up just three hits.
Her arm did not get tired throughout, she said.
"I was just trying to keep my concentration throughout the game," Lucarelli said. "I like it more when it gets clutch time, so I enjoyed the seventh and eighth inning."
In the top of the seventh, Lucarelli retired the side with the Lady Cardinals hitting three consecutive ground-outs to the mound.
In the top of the eighth inning, Solon committed its only error of the game with a dropped fly ball to left field. A wild pitch advanced a Mentor runner to second base, but Lucarelli went on to strike out the next two batters -- one looking and one swinging -- to set up the Lady Comets' game-winning bottom of the eighth.
Sophomore left fielder Jessica Stone led off the inning with an infield single.
"The beauty of softball is, if you make an error defensively, you still have a bat in your hands," Fonner said. "You can redeem yourself with the bat. We are constantly talking about a two-second memory around here. She did a great job with that."
Up next, senior Jessie Cohen-Kiraly laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Stone to second base.
Sophomore Kristen Confroy then walked before freshman Natalia Kontul stepped to the plate.
Kontul hit a ground ball that escaped the reach of Mentor's third baseman and bounced into left field.
Stone rounded third and beat the throw home for the game-winning run.
"I was happy," Kontul said of her game-winning hit. "I didn't really have much thoughts when I stepped to the plate. I just kept it cool. I was a little nervous my first couple games on varsity, but I'm kind of used to it now."
Also a starting freshman in Solon's varsity lineup, Nikki Fudale caught for Lucarelli and fired two shots to second base to throw out both of the Lady Cardinals' steal attempts.
Fudale's first throw-out was in the third inning, and her second throw-out was in the sixth inning, which saved a run as the next Mentor batter hit a triple and was left stranded.
"Well, it was great to provide that defense for Gabby, but I couldn't have done it without Kristen Confroy, because her tags were amazing in those throws," Fudale said. "It definitely feels great to be out here with the varsity, and they're all just great team members."
With Confroy at shortstop and senior Emily Maxson at third base, throws were on target to Carli Simecek at first base all game long for the Lady Comets.
Perhaps the defensive play of the game, however, was junior Morgan Gersey's diving catch in center field in the third inning.
"Solon's five hits during the game were all singles coming off the bats of Lucarelli, Simecek, Maxson, Stone and Kontul.
The Lady Comets' next game is at 4:30 p.m. May 1 on their home Roxbury Field against Hudson. Solon lost, 9-6, to Hudson earlier this season.
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