Lady Cavaliers fall against Montgomery in district action
After losing to The Woodlands in walk-off fashion earlier this week, Montgomery coach Michelle Rochinski knew her team needed to stay focused.
The Lady Bears bounced back with a dominating performance against College Park on Friday evening, rolling to a 9-2 victory at home in District 12-6A action.
Montgomery (9-2-1, 1-1) had solid production throughout its lineup and finished the night with 14 hits, including a 3-for-4 performance at the plate from second baseman Charlotte Merdian.
Demi Krikorian, Rylee Hazlewood, Alexa von Gontard, Natalie Hasselmeier and Jenny Robison each collected a pair of hits as well.
“We just knew that we needed to come out with a new mindset and get back on track,” Rochinski said. “We played The Woodlands well on Tuesday. There’s not an easy team in this district, and we knew we were going to have to come out and play ball.”
Though College Park was able to get some runners in scoring position, Montgomery pitchers Hailey Parker and Skyler Teague were able to limit the damage and work out of tough situations. The duo scattered nine hits across seven innings and walked just one batter.
The Lady Cavaliers were led by Alexia Lara, Morgan Adamek and Mieyha Perez, who each collected a pair of hits. College Park stranded nine runners on bases throughout the contest.
“We did have a bunch of chances in the game, but we just never could come up with that big hit,” College Park coach Jeremy Collins said. “Montgomery did a good job of playing the game of softball, honestly. They really played a fundamental game, and when the plays came to them, they made the plays. We had our chances early, but then they stuck to what they do, and they played defense well, and we couldn’t score on them.”
Montgomery put the first run of the game on the board in the bottom of the inning as Krikorian scored on a fielding error by the Lady Cavaliers. Krikorian put the Lady Bears up 2-0 in the second inning, scoring Merdian with a double to the left-center field gap.
Montgomery added three more runs to its lead in the third. Jenny Robinson came through with a run-scoring double, and another run crossed the plate on the play as College Park attempted to throw her out at second base. Merdian delivered once again with two outs on the board, putting her team ahead 5-0 with a run-scoring double to right field.
“She’s been in a little bit of a batting slump,” Rochinski said of Merdian. “We just keep talking to her about staying positive and having a different mindset. Tonight she came out and was on fire with her bat. We had to move her from the outfield to the infield, and she’s taken it in stride and going with it, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes for her team.”
Montgomery kept its foot on the has in the fourth as Hazlewood and Von Gontard brought in two more runs with back-toback singles. Merdian then drove in her third run of the game with a single to make the score 9-0.
“We were swinging at the right pitches,” Collins said. “Our girls have been working constantly to get the right counts and to swing at the right pitches at the right time, and they did that tonight. We had a lot of good contact on our hits, but we also had good solid contact that went right to people, so it’s a positive moving on through district.”
College Park kept battling despite the deficit and broke up the shutout in the seventh inning when Lara and Emily Springer raced home on a hard-hit ball up the middle by Brittney Rains.
With spring break coming up, Montgomery will host Morton Ranch for a non-district contest at 2 p.m. next Tuesday before resuming district action on March 20 at Lufkin. College Park will head to Weimar, Texas, this weekend to compete in tournament play. The Lady Cavaliers will get back into 12-6A play on March 20 as well, hosting Oak Ridge.