Softball
By: Steve Feitl
It was a week of extremes for the Lawrence High School softball team.
Twice in a span of seven days, the Cardinals blew out their opposing teams in dominant fashion.
And just as often, they battled to dramatic nine-inning decisions.
But most importantly, the Cardinals escaped the four-game week with a 3-1 record and a berth into the semi-finals of the Mercer County Tournament.
Lawrence (12-5) defeated Trenton, 22-4, on May 3 and McCorristin, 18-0, on Monday.
The Cardinals did lose to Notre Dame Friday, 1-0, but came back the next day to gain a measure of revenge over Steinert, 1-0.
Both games Friday and Saturday went nine innings and the Steinert victory was a MCT quarterfinal game.
“To go nine innings two days in a row is just incredible,” coach Keith Fithen said. “We earned the win Saturday. Steinert is no ‘gimme.’ They’re a top team in the conference and we showed them that we’re right up there with them.”
The Cardinals got a warm-up game for the big weekend when they took it to Trenton last week. The Tornadoes were also facing four games in a week, and started their back-up pitcher. It proved to be a mistake.
Lawrence lit up the Trenton pitcher for eight runs without even suffering an out. Trenton came back with their No. 1 starter, but it made no difference. The Cardinals scored eight more runs and led by 16 after the first inning.
“That set the tone right away,” Fithen said. “They couldn’t get the ball over the plate. What they could get over, we hit.”
The Cardinals were walked 17 times in the five-inning game and each and every LHS starter left with at least one RBI.
Meanwhile, Kim Grochala pitched beautifully for the Cardinals and picked up her first win of the season.
But while the bats were hot against Trenton, things cooled significantly against Notre Dame. A pitcher’s duel ended in the bottom of the ninth inning when a Notre Dame base-runner walked, was bunted over and driven in on a single up the middle.
“We got beat by a hit,” Fithen said. “We were really happy about the way we played. We went nine innings with them, but they came through on us.”
In the MCT action against Steinert Saturday, things remained the same.
“We went into the game just like we did at Notre Dame,” Fithen said. “It was a carbon copy. Ashley (Kenyon) threw a two-hitter, but again we found ourselves in the ninth inning.”
This time however, the Cardinals found a way to score.
Allison Markowsky was substituted into the game as a designated hitter and got a double to lead off the ninth. Kelly Mangini attempted a sacrifice bunt, but Steinert did not execute and the Cardinals now had first and third with no outs.
Lauren Bunn then moved Mangini over to second, which led to Grochala at bat with the infield in.
“I told Allison (Markowsky) that if she saw a ball hit to the right side to just go,” Fithen recalled. “It was hit to second base and the throw came home, but she slid under the tag and we got the run.”
The win moved the Cardinals into a semi-final war against Notre Dame today (Thursday). The winner will play the winner of the Hamilton-Nottingham game in the MCT finals Saturday.
The 18-0 blow-out of McCorristin Monday lifted the Cardinals’ record to 12-5. Even a loss against Notre Dame today would mean the worst case scenario is Lawrence is 12-6 at the cut-off for the state tournament.
Fithen said the team is proud of its position and improvement over a nine-win total at this time last year.
“We are much improved from last year,” Fithen said. “We’re more experienced. We’ve only lost one game by two runs this year and all our losses have been to top teams. We’re proud of where we are."