The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Salazar roughed up in loss to Tampa
Streaks exorcise demons vs. Mentor, 5-2; ’Toppers edge Mayfield, 5-4
Third time is a charm? The Madison softball team way past that point. With a 5-2 win over Mentor in a Division I district semifinal on May 16 in Mentor, the Blue Streaks’ battle cry was more like, “Fourth time’s a charm.”
Jordan Pasalaqua drove in three runs, including a tworun double in the seventh. With the win, the third-seeded Blue Streaks advance to the district championship game at 4:30 p.m. May 17, where they will play fourth-seeded Chardon.
Chardon advanced to the championship game with a come-from-behind 5-4 win is
over Mayfield on a neighboring field at Mentor.
Mentor had ended Madison’s three previous seasons, taking a 2-0 semifinal win in 2016, a 5-4 extra-inning win in a 2015 semifinal and a 4-0 victory over the Blue Streaks in the 2014 district championship game. That would explain the raucous celebration when winning pitcher Alyssa Rose fielded a grounder back to the mound and threw to first for the game-ending out.
“We lost to them every year since my freshman year,” said junior Alyssa Rose.
“And we got ’em this time,” said Madison coach Art Rose, Alyssa’s grandfather. “It feels really good to finally get them.”
Mentor, the tournament’s second seed, had a 2-1 lead in the fifth when things began to unravel. First, Madison tied the game on an errant pickoff throw to third base, allowing Ally Berry to score.
An inning later, Rose singled and rode home on Pasalaqua’s double.
Then in the seventh, Pasalaqua ripped a tworun single to left to score Gabby Blackford and Liz Montgomery.
“We finally calmed down a little bit,” Art Rose said of the difference in the game from the beginning innings to the latter innings.
“That was the biggest thing.”
Mentor took the lead in the second inning when freshman Casey McHugh’s grounder scored Kelly Mullins for a 1-0 lead.
After Madison tied it on Blackford’s towering solo homer to right, Mentor took a 2-1 lead in the third when Rachel Beller doubled and came around two batters later to score on Peyton Dolejs’ grounder to third.
But that’s all the offense Mentor could muster against Rose, who pitched a four-hitter, walking three and striking out six.
“They had a lot of the same batters as last year,” Alyssa Rose said, “so we knew how to face them. We knew not to let the middle of the lineup hurt us.”
While Mentor struggled to get offense going against Madison, the Blue Streaks’
offense clubbed out nine hits.
Pasalaqua had two biggies with her RBI double in the sixth and the two-run single in the seventh.
“I felt very comfortable (at the plate),” she said. “I knew I had to get the girls home to get us up on the board.
“We knew we could do it. We have a strong team.”
Chardon 5, Mayfield 4
Rose Solar’s final day of classes as a Chardon senior was May 16. She found a good way to celebrate later that afternoon.
Solar’s looping single down the left-field line capped a three-run seventh inning that gave fourthseeded Chardon a 5-4 win over Mayfield.
The win puts the Hilltoppers
in its first district championship game since “I don’t know when,” said Chardon coach Max McCrone.
“I’m so happy for these kids,” McCrone said. “We start three freshmen and two sophomores. We’re young. I thought we were a year away from doing something special, but here we are.”
Chardon trailed, 4-2, going into the bottom of the seventh. The Hilltoppers’ only runs to that point came via a mammoth tworun home run by Lexi Leggett.
Kala Preziuso and Jackie Adkins hit back-to-back doubles to make it a 4-3 game. Bri Kuty then singled to put runners on the corners.
After a courtesy runner advanced to second uncontested, Leggett hit a hard chopper to third that was booted for an error, tying the game at 4.
After a popup to second, Solar roped a pitch over the third baseman’s head for the game-winner.
“It was kind of tense, but we were also hyped up,” said Solar of her team’s mood heading to the bottom of the seventh. “Once people start hitting, it kept going. With this team, we just feed off each other. It’s perfect.”
The winner of the Chardon-Mentor game advances to the University of Akron regional on May 24 to play the winner of the Massillon Regional.