By Matt Maher
GIRARD, OH – The Eagles flew high and mighty on Thursday evening when they took down the Girard Indians not once, but twice on the Indians home field!
The first game was the continuation from April 17th where Hubbard was leading 10-5 in the top of the 4th when the rain began to fall and the game had to be postponed. The Indians gave the Eagles a run for their money and got it within 3 runs thanks in part to a solo homer to left field by Kyra Bell but the Indians efforts came up short and Hubbard took game 1 10-7, Kaylee Schultz finished with 4 RBIs with Haleigh Taylor earning 3. Molly Durkin led the Indians with 2 RBIs off of 2 hits.
Taylor earned the win for Hubbard with 6 IP, 14 H, 7 R and 8 Ks while Schultz finished the game with 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R and 3 Ks. Durkin started the game for Girard but had 2 IP, 5 H and 6 R while Broll finished it off and earned the loss with 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R and 2 Ks.
The Second game saw Girard start Brooklyn Broll. Broll started the 1st inning very well with 2 straight outs on Rusnak and the soph sensation Haleigh Taylor but ran into trouble after walking Lauren Komorek. Kaylee Schultz would step up and find the RBI single to shallow right field after the walk.
Hubbard continued their triumph over Broll with 3 more runs in the 2nd thanks to a 2-run triple from Komorek that almost scored 3 but catcher Caylee Wilkes was able to tag out Taylor at the plate. Schultz would get that run back, however, with an RBI single to left that brought home Komorek.
The Eagles blasted the fictitious roof off the place when they scored an impressive 9 runs in the 3rd. The inning started with 3 straight fielding errors followed by a Kamryn Johnson 2-run single. Rusnak brought in another with a double and then Taylor found her first RBI with a single. A run came across to score on a wild pitch during Komorek’s at bat and she would follow suit with a double. Schultz and Gregory scored in 2 more runs and a wild pitch would top off the inning for Hubbard. The Indians made a pitching change right before Haleigh Taylor and called on Abby Iceman to finish the inning.
3 more runs scored in the 4th with an RBI double from Rusnak and another from Taylor and then a 4th RBI single for Schultz. Iceman would finally settle in and retire the Eagles in order come the 5th and even found the Indians forts K of the game. Broll finished with 2 IP, 8 H, 9 R and 2 BB while Iceman finished with 3 IP, 11 H 7 R and 1 K.
The Eagles started Kaylee Schultz and boy oh boy was she good! She retired the Indians in 3 batters in 4 Innings and only gave up 2 hits! The Eagles stud also earned 7 Ks in her and her team’s huge victory.
The Indians had momentum coming in after finishing the first game in the series right before but couldn’t build off of it thanks to the spectacular pitching and hitting from Kaylee Schultz who was easily this games MVP! The Eagles (11-9, 5-5) will be home on Monday May 6th to take on the Niles red Dragons at 5 and 6:30PM while the Indians (6-11, 2-8) will be in Youngstown on Tuesday May 7th when they take on the Ursuline Fighting Irish at 5PM.