CANFIELD — Austintown Fitch has been something of an offensive juggernaut this season.
Through 14 games, the Falcons have scored at least 10 runs in all but three games. After “only” scoring five runs in their win over Canfield on Monday, Fitch added the Cardinals to their tally on Tuesday, hitting early and often to down Canfield 14-3 and remain unbeaten on the season.
“At the end of the game yesterday, we talked about the adjustments that we wanted to do, what we thought we were going to see,” Fitch coach Steve Ward said. “And these girls, they take a lot of pride in what they do and they take a lot of pride in their softball IQ. So they were ready to go. They knew what they wanted to attack, and they attacked the pitches that they wanted.”
Through Fitch’s (14-0, 4-0 AAC) undefeated start, the Falcons are averaging 11.0 runs per game. Their electric play at the plate has propelled them up the state rankings to No. 2 across all divisions on Maxpreps and unanimous No. 1 in Division I in the OHSFSCA Coaches Poll.
“Everybody wants to pass the bat, everybody wants to have that moment to hit their teammates in, get on base and allow their teammates to hit them in,” Ward said. “So it’s just us with synergy. We’re an aggressive team, and we’re going to keep being aggressive. No matter if the score is 1-0 or 14-0, we try to be the same team.”
Fitch’s offensive onslaught has also helped ease the burden on freshman pitcher Mila Hamley’s shoulders in the circle. She surpassed 100 strikeouts on the season against Canfield (6-6, 1-3 AAC), finishing with nine strikeouts and three walks, while giving up four hits.
With Hamley’s play coupled with seven players in the lineup batting over .400 this spring, the Falcons don’t have many weaknesses.
“It’s a total team effort. So when the offense is able to produce, Mila is able to relax and throw her pitches that she wants and not feel as if she has to muscle anything. She can just throw free and know that her defense has her back anytime the ball is put in play,” Ward said.
“She is growing stronger each and every game. You can see that she’s getting sharper later in the inning, she’s staying stronger, and that’s the consistent build-up that we wanted to see this year.”
Against the Cardinals, Fitch had the bats going from the opening pitch and ended up finishing with 16 hits.
Kaliana Ray led things off with a base hit in the first inning, and after a sacrifice fly from Alyssa Rodgers, Abby Toth and Kylie Folkwein blasted back-to-back solo homers to give the Falcons an early 3-0 lead. Folkwein reached a new milestone in her decorated career on Tuesday, scoring her 100th career run.
After Hamley struck out the side in the bottom of the frame, Fitch added four more runs in the top of the second inning behind a pair of doubles from Rodgers and Seneca Coates.
The Falcons then added two more runs in the second inning and one run in the fifth, before finishing things off with four more runs in the top of the seventh inning. Morgan Roby had an RBI base hit, Coates batted in two more runs and one run scored on a passed ball in that final inning.
“Our pitchers did not get a lot of support defensively in those early innings, and when that happens, you face a team like that and you give them four, five or six outs an inning, you’re asking for trouble,” Canfield coach Kerry Durkin said. “That’s a machine over there. That’s a very good, sound softball team, and when you make a mistake, they will exploit it.”
Canfield’s lone runs came in the bottom of the second and seventh innings. Kitt Testa hit a two-run home run off Hamley to open the Cardinals’ scoring in the second and Jenna Triveri had an RBI groundout in the seventh after back-to-back hits from Kamryn Moyer and Makayla Brown.
Sitting at .500 overall, Canfield has had to go without a handful of key players over the last five games. But the Cardinals will finally get those players back on Thursday when they visit rival Poland. Meanwhile, Fitch will return home to host Massillon Washington on Thursday.
“It’s going to be kind of two seasons for us. This first part is behind us. We’re 6-6. It is what it is, but it doesn’t mean anything,” Durkin said. “As far as the tournament goes, we have a lot of runway to get a lot better, and we intend to do that. We’re going to get those players back, but they’re not guaranteed their spots back. They gotta earn them back. But we intend to kind of rebuild it. We still have a very good foundation, and that’s the key. We’re going to build on that.”
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