C-H softball strengthens section lead with rout of OLSH
HOUSTON – Going up against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the other undefeated team in Class 2A Section 3, Ella Richey and her Chartiers-Houston teammates wanted to set the tone early.
In the first at-bat for the Bucs in the bottom of the first, Richey did just that.
Richey belted a solo homer over the centerfield fence, which opened the floodgates as the Bucs earned a 12-0 victory over the Chargers Tuesday afternoon at the Allison Park Elementary School Field.
“I just saw it in the zone and attacked it,” Richey said. “We wanted to come out here and make a statement as a team.”
The statement was that the Bucs have strong bats throughout their lineup and pitchers Meadow Ferri and Taryne Drilak are equally stingy in the circle.
Richey’s homer was the first of three runs in the first for the Bucs (6-0, 12-1), who strengthened their grip on the section title race over OLSH (4-1, 6-4).
The Bucs added two more on a two-out, two-run single by Sydney English.
English looped it over OLSH third baseman Mya Eschenbaugh.
They continued to add on, but that was already plenty of run support for Ferri, a Kent State recruit.
Ferri pitched the first three innings and allowed only one hit. She struck out six and didn’t yield a walk. Five of Ferri’s six strikeouts were looking.
“I think a lot of it was about location and being able to spin the ball,” Ferri said. “I tried to paint the corners a lot to get them to expand the zone.”
Ferri helped her own cause in the second inning by hitting a line drive two-run homer over to dead center that increased the lead to 5-0. Lauren Rush singled up the middle before Ferri came to the plate.
Bucs head coach Tricia Alderson was pleased with the home run, because it came on an offspeed pitch.
Ferri wasn’t sure what the pitch was, but knew she got all of it.
My coaches told me it was a changeup, but all I knew is that I had two strikes on me and I had to hit the ball. At first, I thought it might have been short, but once I saw it hang a little bit, I knew it was gone.”
Chartiers-Houston added five more in the third to get the lead to 10-0. Lauren Rush ripped an RBI single, Seanna Riggle had an RBI groundout and Drilak hit a sacrifice fly to right field. The Bucs also took advantage of a pair of errors by the Chargers in the inning.
Rush put a cap on the afternoon with a no-doubt two-run home run in the fourth. She blasted a pitch over the left-field fence. Richey had a double and advanced to third on a bobble in the outfield prior to Rush’s home run.
“I had two strikes and when I have two strikes I try to shorten up and put the ball in play, because anything is better than a strikeout,” Rush said. “There were two outs and a runner at third, so I was trying to get her in for my team. I did what I usually do and it just kind of happened.”
OLSH had three singles, one off Ferri, but did not have a runner reach scoring position.
Drilak, a sophomore, had four strikeouts after taking over for Ferri in the fourth. She struck out the side to finish the game.
“She’s going to be great too,” Alderson said of Drilak. “We feel really good about playing multiple games in a week, because we have the pitching to do that. We don’t have to just throw one kid game after game. It was good for Taryne to get some varsity time pitching. She’s been pitching fantastic for us too.”
Chariters-Houston has four section games remaining, including a rematch with OLSH Saturday at Youthtowne Field in Clinton. Outside of Fort Cherry, the Bucs face each section opponent one more time.
“It definitely feels good to win, but we have to get back to work tomorrow,” Richey said. “We have to refocus, because we’re going to be playing some good teams coming up.”