Down and out
Medina shuts down Billies, 1-0, to end season
Destiny Salkowski provided the run while Emily Kams worked a masterful seven innings in the circle Tuesday afternoon as the No. 3 Medina Lady Mustangs edged the No. 2 Fredonia Lady Hillbillies, 1-0, in a Section VI, Class B2 softball semifinal at Fredonia High School.
“I can’t complain about the game,” Fredonia co-head coach Joe Pucciarelli said. “It was a 1-0 game and it was just a bad time to run into one of these (types of games).”
Kams tossed 6-2/3 innings of no-hit ball before Sydney Bigelow laced a clean single into center field. But Kams retired Cassie Essek, who had walked her pervious two times to the plate, on strikes to end the game and start the Lady Mustangs’ celebration at the third-base dugout.
“She relied a lot on her defense (Tuesday) to really keep that Fredonia offense in check,” Medina head coach Amber Cleaveland said. “She’s a powerful pitcher; she’s had a lot of strikeouts this year, but as far as the no-hitter, if she didn’t know about it, that was good to know. She just came to play.”
Kams finished allowing just the one hit while striking out eight and walking four, much to the dismay of Pucciarelli and his Lady Hillbillies.
“We watched her warm up and the ball was tailing away like a lefty (does),” Pucciarelli said. “I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or not. And I don’t know how many strikeouts she had, but we just did not get good, solid contact on her.
And like I said, I don’t know if the ball was tailing away and we just didn’t get good contact, or if we were just getting it off the end of the bat.”
The lone run of the game in the top of the sixth when Salkowski slammed a drive to left-center field. Once the ball landed, there was little doubt she would be trying for home plate.
“She was going to go for home,” Cleaveland said of Salkowski. “She was wheelin’ and she’s there at the leadoff spot with her speed for a reason.”
The home run was just one of the four hits Fredonia hurler Hannah Cybart allowed in her complete-game effort. She struck out five and walked one in her final high school appearance in the Lady Hillbillies’ traditional black and orange.
“Like coach (Jesse) Beers said, if we would’ve said they would’ve scored one run before the game, we would’ve taken it,” Pucciarelli said. “That’s fine, they can score the one run, because we thought we would’ve had a few anyway. Unfortunately (Tuesday) we didn’t score any runs.”
Fredonia’s lone threat came in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Essek walked and was replaced by pinch runner Caelin Holt, who promptly stole second. A sacrifice bunt by Grace Mroczka moved Holt to third, before Maggie Mignoli walked. Trying to get in a run down to get Holt home, Mignoli was caught between first and second before Holt could score the game’s first run.
“It wasn’t her fault,” Pucciarelli said of Mignoli. “The throw went from the catcher to the pitcher, to the first baseman to the shortstop, and I don’t think she really knew where the ball was and that’s not her fault. And once the ball went back to the circle, the girl on third had to freeze, which made her a half step behind and she was then a half step or a step late getting to the plate.”
For Caitlyn Cybart, Hannah Cybart, MeKenna Leid, Andrea Smith and Katie Webster, Tuesday marked the end of a long tenure playing for Pucciarelli.
“I’m different than maybe any other coach, because I’ve been with (the seniors) basically for 10 years,” Pucciarelli, who coached them during their Little League days said. “I’ve coached them from they were 8 or 10 years old until now, so it’s tough. But it’s not tough because we lost, it’s tough because these are great kids.
“Their academic average is probably a 94,” Pucciarelli added. “I have two salutatorians and a possible valedictorian on this team, so they are very smart and very mature. Our mantra for the last couple of years has been ‘Soul Sisters’ and they have really bought into it. They really care about each other.”
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