WARRIORS WIN A FIGHT TO THE FINISH
By Ty Bartell
CANFIELD OH- In the 17th annual JoAnne Kernan Strikeout Cancer Memorial, plenty of great softball
teams from all around northeast Ohio came to McCune Park in Canfield to play for a bigger cause. Two of those teams that did battle Friday night were The West Branch Warriors and The Archbishop Hoban Knights softball teams!
Although a gritty battle through and through with plenty of offense throughout the ball game, it was The Warriors who secured the victory by tallying some late runs to seal the contest on The Knights 8-6.
Klary McKay started in the circle for West Branch and Gracelyn Schultz stood opposite of her as the pitcher for The Knights. The Warriors grabbed an early lead in the top of the first when Sara Schmidt would belt an RBI single up the middle, giving The Warriors a 1-0 lead, before being thrown out going for second base.
West Branch would strike for three more runs in the top half of the third, highlighted by a Sara Schmidt RBI Sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Addi Craven. Adding an additional run in the top of the fourth, The Warriors saw themselves with a commanding 5-0 advantage.
However, Hoban would finally strike on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth, courtesy of a two-run blast by Savannah Regan, her second of the season, trimming the West Branch lead to three at 5-2. Adeline Herstitch would come through for The Knights the following inning when she brought in a run with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.
Leading 5-3, The Warriors would use three doubles in the top of the seventh by Matti Hawk, Sara Schmidt, and Klary McKay to get three runs back and own a 8-3 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh! The Knights would respond, with RBI hits by both Taylor Gerring and Gracelyn Schultz to bring the deficit to two runs with Hoban having the tying run on base!
However, Klary McKay and The Warriors got the job done, stranding the tying run in scoring position to give West Branch their ninth win of the season with an 8-6 victory over Hoban.
The battery combination of McKay and Sara Schmidt won Players of the Game nods as McCray held her own against a potent Knight lineup, while also delivering an RBI double in the second. While Schmidt had a day at the ballpark, going 2-for-2 with a single and a double, walking once, getting a sacrifice fly and ending the day with 4 RBI! Interviews with both can be found below.
West Branch (9-2) will be right back in-action on Saturday, April 20th with two games at McCune against both Erie McDowell (5-3) and Columbiana (10-3). Meanwhile, Hoban (7-6) will play again on Monday, April 22nd when they travel to Massillon to battle The Jackson Polar Bears (7-6).
Stay updated with both West Branch and Hoban softball all season long with live games, scores, stats, stories and more on YSN!
