The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Westlake advances in postseason tournament
Stephanie Randar and Audrey Lyle each hit a home run as Westlake topped North Olmsted in a Division I Avon Lake District sectional semifinal, 4-2.
Westlake battery mates Stephanie Randar and Audrey Lyle each belted a home run as the Demons beat North Olmsted, 4-2, in a Division I Avon Lake District sectional semifinal on May 9.
Randar, Westlake’s freshman starting pitcher, went the distance, allowing two runs on seven hits and helped her own cause with a bomb to deep center field in the bottom of the sixth.
“She really pitched well,” Westlake coach Tom Shiban said.
“She was all around the plate the whole day. She mixed up her pitches well and I thought she located well for the most part. Being only a freshman, pitching in her first tournament playoff game, I thought she did very well. North Olmsted has some girls who can really hit the ball, so she did a lot of good things and, obviously, she helped us at the plate with the home run to give us an insurance run, which was nice.”
Randar pitched with a lead most of the day, as the Demons scratched a run across with some heads-up baserunning in the second.
One inning later, Lyle, Westlake’s junior catcher, smashed a two-run homer over the left field fence to make it a 3-0 game.
The home run was almost a carbon copy of Lyle’s first at-bat, in which she smoked a deep fly ball right near the same spot, only inches to the left of the foul pole. This time, there was no doubt it would stay fair.
“The first time up, she gave me something that I liked to see,” Lyle said.
“I was hoping for the same pitch like that, and when she gave it to me, I tried to take advantage of it.”
The two-run bomb was WESTLAKE 4, NORTH OLMSTED 2 Up next: Westlake travels to Avon for a sectional final on May 10 at 4:30 p.m.
one of North Olmsted starting pitcher Mary Fuerst’s few mistakes. It would have been a solid outing under any circumstances, but combined with the fact that it was Fuerst’s secondstraight complete game in back-to-back days, it made her performance even more exceptional.
“We played Avon Lake last night and she threw about 145 pitches,” North Olmsted coach Cassie Gaye said.
“We’re pretty low on our pitching staff and she had to throw again tonight. I thought she pitched really well. She slipped up on a couple pitches, Westlake capitalized on them.”
North Olmsted had its chances throughout the game, but Westlake’s defense made one play after another to keep the Eagles off the board heading into the sixth.
Each time the Eagles started to put a rally together, Westlake senior shortstop Selene Cerankosky would make a timely play, snagging line drives and firing rockets to first to get out of innings.
“We had a few opportunities with two outs and runners in scoring position, but we just hit some grounders right to them. Their shortstop had a great game,” Gaye said.
“She made a lot of big plays for them and had their third baseman’s back a couple times.”
Second baseman Chloe Martin also made several impressive plays on the day.
“They work really hard, they hustle, and they’ve got good range,” Shiban said of his infielders. “They all have good arms, too. We’re pretty solid there and we’re fortunate.”
Randar credited her defense for making great plays throughout the day, helping her earn the win.
“I knew I had good defense behind me and they were backing me up,” the pitcher said. “It makes me really comfortable having them back there because they make a lot of big plays and key outs.”
North Olmsted finally broke through in the top of the sixth, when Gina D’Onofrio hit a sharp grounder through the legs of the third baseman, scoring Cassie Burkey and Zinta Frigic to make it a one-run game. D’Onofrio advanced to second on the throw, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.
Lyle headed to the mound to calm her starting pitcher down with one out and runners at second and third.
“I was trying to make her laugh and take her mind off everything,” the catcher said. “I just wanted to keep her loose out there and remind her to have fun.”
Maggie Moennich laid down a well-placed sacrifice bunt attempt, but Randar fired the ball home, where Lyle tagged the runner out at the plate to keep it 3-2.
“I knew we needed to get it home as fast as possible,” Lyle said. “We couldn’t let that run score and we didn’t.”
Randar led off the sixth with the solo shot to center, picking up a crucial insurance run.
“I was trying to be aggressive, but I was just hoping for a base hit,” Randar said. “But then it went over anyways!”
The Demons (9-10) moved on to face Southwestern Conference rival Avon on the road on May 10.
“We’ve played them twice now,” Shiban said of his upcoming opponent.
“They know us, we know them. They’re a great team and we know they hit the ball really well. We know they have a great pitcher. It’s going to be another tough game, another playoff and conference game. It seems like our district has a ton of our conference members, so we know each other really well. Avon’s as good as anybody and we’ve got our work cut out for us tomorrow.”
The big game against Avon falls in the middle of a week in which the Demons play five games, so receiving a complete game effort from Randar could pay dividends for her team’s pitching staff.
“We played a game last night that was a marathon,” Shiban said.
“It was a three-hour game, 22-20 (final score). This is a tough week. We have games every day. It’s the middle of the playoffs and this is the time of the season where you just have to play through it. It really helped to have our freshman go the distance.”
North Olmsted (4-14, 3-12 SWC) finished the season with a tough loss, but Gaye was proud of the way her team battled from the second half of the season all the way down to the final out in the sectional, playing tough competition the whole way.
“They fight until the end. I know they’re not happy with the outcome, but as a coach, that’s all you ask for is they fight. The SWC is hands down one of the best conferences in Northeast Ohio and probably the entire state. Competing against a team like Westlake, they’re a great program. I wish we could’ve made it a little bit closer at the end, but we’re competing until the end. We’ve been doing that this whole second half of the season. The girls came out and gave their best effort. I’m proud of them.”