by Story written by Caden Lawrence
The Pirates started hitting early led by lead-off hitter Maddie Sollars with an infield single followed by 2 stolen bases. They would capture their first run of the game after Reagan Kane hit a sacrifice fly into center field and Maddie tagged up to take a 1-0 lead. Headed into the bottom of the first, it was the start of a complete game masterpiece from Rocky River ace Reagan Kane. After allowing a lead-off triple, she went 1-2-3 to clean up the inning and lead 1-0 after 1.
The 2nd inning was the start of domination from the Pirates as they scored mainly off errors from the Mustangs. River scored 4 runs this inning led by a wild pitch allowing Elizabeth Smalley to steal home, a single from Ava Mae Demooy, followed up by an RBI double from Carly, then a Maggie Heigle grounder that resulted in an error on the throw to first, allowing Sollars and Ewing to reach home to extend River’s lead to 5-0. Strongsville had no answers despite a walk and hit by pitch from Kane, but she responded and allowed no runs through 2.
In the 3rd inning, the Mustangs held the Pirates to a 1-2-3 inning. However, it was not much different on the other side as the Pirates got their 3 outs in four batters. In the 4th inning, River had 2 quick flyouts before Maddie Sollars got her 3rd hit of the game and Maggie Heigle followed. However, the next batter saw Sollars thrown out at 3rd to end the top half of the inning. In the bottom half, River’s Reagan Kane continued to dominate as she threw 3 strikeouts in a row to keep the Mustangs shut out through 4.
In the 5th inning, the Pirates offense had slowed down, but senior Elleana Biscardi had her first hit of the night before 3 other batters ended the inning. Reagan Kane went 1-2-3 again with another 2 strikeouts to keep a 5-0 lead after 5.
In the top of the 6th inning, the Pirates would add onto their lead as Maddie Sollars got her 4th hit of the game, reaching second on the error, followed by an RBI single by Maggie Heigle to take a 6-0 lead. Finally, Strongsville came to life scoring 2 runs in the 6th, starting off with a Hartman single, followed by 2 more RBI singles by Binette and Agbuya where they scored 2 runs with no outs, gaining momentum and hoping to keep alive a comeback. Reagan Kane shut that down by throwing 2 more strikeouts and forcing a pop out to end the inning, leading 6-2.
In the 7th, River’s Demooy extended the lead with an RBI double and in the bottom half for the Mustangs, Binette hit an RBI triple, but a fly out to center closed the game with the Pirates going on the road and winning 7-3.
The Pirates move to 15-7 on the season with huge games from Senior lead off hitter Maddie Sollars having 4 hits and the story of the day, Ace Reagan Kane with 13 strikeouts dominating the Mustangs.
