Hometown Softball Broadcast Recap for New Castle on 4/10/14

By: Bruce Markey
Friday, April 11, 2014 | 9:14 AM

The George Washington Intermediate School field played more like Wrigley Field on Thursday as the Wolverines defeated the Red Hurricanes. The teams combined for three homeruns 19 runs scored and 22 hits in a two-plus hour game that saw both squads have to make pitching changes.

Ellwood City jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first as senior Shea Barrett homered to dead center field. New Castle returned the favor as senior Shannon Dudich hit a line-drive homer to left center field to tie the game. Ellwood City took back the lead in the second on back to back doubles by Lauren Stiles and Mallory Swogger.

Wolverines starting pitcher Skyla Greco had trouble finding the strike zone in the third, allowing four consecutive walks. A run scoring single by Jenna Frank and another walk chased the freshman from the game. Another freshman, Zoe Geminiani entered the game and allowed a two run double to Abba Frengel before getting out of the inning.

New Castle’s 7-3 lead did not last long. Three straight singles for the Wolverines, forced New Castle coach Leah Ann Williams to make a change, going from Alyea Cioffi to Dudich. The senior couldn’t stop the rally as Barrett doubled home two runs and Allie McKelvey singled home another to tie the game at 7.

Ellwood City took the lead for good in the fifth, after two outs, Dudich got Stiles to ground to second but an error on freshman Paige Shaftic allowed Swogger to come to the plate and as so often happens, Swogger homered to give Ellwood City a 9-7 lead. New Castle cut the lead in half as Nicole Houk’s fly ball scored Charlie Droeder from third.

The Wolverines loaded the bases in the sixth, Summer Maine singled home two key runs to put Ellwood City up 11-8. Williams went back to Cioffi to finish the game. New Castle could not get a runner into scoring position in the final two innings to try and tie the game.

Ellwood City is now 4-2 overall and 2-2 in section play. Stiles had 3 hits, Barrett was 3-5 with a homer and two doubles with 4 runs batted in. Geminiani had two hits off the bench, Summer Maine also had two hits. Geminani got the win in relief, going 5 innings and allowing just 1 run. She struck out 5.

New Castle falls to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the section. Dudich and Frengel each went 2 for 3 with 2 runs driven in. Cioffi totaled 4.2 innings pitched with 5 runs allowed on 9 hits, the senior struck out 3. Dudich took the loss in 2.1 innings with 6 runs allowed on 5 hits.

Coach Williams remained upbeat after the game, citing the slow start by New Castle last season, the Canes rallied to make the playoffs with a strong second half in 2013. Williams said the bats came around as New Castle was shut out 12-0 at Blackhawk on Wednesday. New Castle has not been able to practice on their home field at all this season, having been on the dirt twice for two home games.

The Red Hurricanes will be back in action on Friday, travelling to Ambridge and head to Hopewell Saturday morning for section matchups. The next Hometown Broadcast for New Castle is scheduled for Tuesday, April 29^th against Hopewell at George Washington.