Young Greyhounds no match for Commodores
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
Experience was a term thrown around by both coaches after Frazier softball’s 20-0 win over Monessen Saturday in Perryopolis.
Frazier scored 15 runs in the second inning to and pounded out 20 hits in the three-inning contest.
On one hand, the Greyhounds are looking for their identity under a new coach after also losing a Division-I pitcher and a core of players that led them to within one game of playing for a state championship last season.
The Commodores return their top pitcher and a group of juniors that own a WPIAL championship and a WPIAL runner-up finish in the past two seasons.
“We have a lot of girls that are new to the sport and different positions,” Monessen coach Carlee Wickstrom said. “We use games like this to get them experience to get better and get ready for section play.”
Wickstrom added that playing a team like the Commodores helps because Frazier is the type of program a team would want to emulate.
“Facing a pitcher like Logan (Hartman) is good because if we can hit her, we can hit anyone in our section,” Wickstrom said.
The Greyhounds, though, failed to hit Hartman. And they weren’t as fortunate when it came to the Commodores (5-1) hitting sophomore pitcher Hannah Yorty.
“We know they’re a different team, but we know Yorty is a nice, young pitcher,” Frazier coach Don Hartman said. “We wanted to work on being selective and finding pitches to drive.”
Logan Hartman started the game off for Frazier with a triple to deep left. She came in to score on Savannah Berklovich’s RBI single.
Berklovich moved to third on a throw to the plate and a passed ball. She scored on Emi Curcio’s ground out to make it 2-0.
Kathryn Barch walked and moved to second on Rylee Evans’ single. Juliann Johnson knocked in Barch with a single.
Evans and Johnson’s courtesy runner Tori Washinski scored when Haley Somers reached on a Greyhounds’ error to make it 5-0 after one.
Berklovich (4 for 4, four RBIs) and Johnson (3 for 3) combined to go 7 for 7 at the plate for the Commodores.
To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Monday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.
