High school softball: Avon prevails against North Ridgeville in pitchers' duel

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Apparently, softball is also a game of inches.Avon's Maria Young and North Ridgeville's Brynnley Cole put on a pitching clinic in their Southwestern Conference matchup Monday, but it was the Eagles who found a way to get a pair of hits in the eighth inning that just eluded defenders to pull out a 1-0 win over the Rangers.Both pitchers went the distance as Cole gave up the lone run while striking out seven and walking none. Young struck out 13 in the shutout.The Eagles improved to 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the SWC, while the Rangers fell to 4-4 and 4-3."The SWC is so tough, we faced a really good team today and, honestly, there is no one in this conference that we could say we are definitely going to beat," Young said. "We are gaining a lot of confidence in each other and when we play our game, I think we can beat anyone."While Young was setting runners down via strikeout, Cole was pitching to contact and her teammates kept making plays in the field.One of the biggest plays came in the top of the fourth when Jocelin Ochs singled and stole second. After a popup in the infield, Young hit a sharp grounder to second that was knocked down by Mary Strippy who looked to first but threw home and got Ochs at the plate to keep the game scoreless.In the fifth and sixth, North Ridgeville got a runner to third but couldn't get the big hit when needed as Strippy reached on an error in the fifth and was stranded, and Ella Nicholls walked, moved up on a wild pitch and ground out, but a fly ball to center ended the inning."Right now, this conference can be won by anyone, and you have to work hard for it every single day," Rangers coach Amy McMillan said. "We shouldn't have let it come down to the eighth, we have to make adjustments in the box, get hits when we can and move runners when we can and find a way to score."Cole started the final inning getting her last strikeout of the game, but the game went sideways on the next two batters.Michaela Jankowski ripped a one-out shot down the third-base line that just glanced off the defender's glove allowing her to hustle to second. Ochs followed with a hard-hit ball down the left-field line that once again just eluded the defender, allowing Jankowski to score the only run of the game."I was just trying to hit the ball hard and get on base, I'm just glad she missed it at third," Jankowski said. "I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get home, but I'm just glad coach (Jason Ochs) sent me home.""We were half a step away twice from still playing," Jason Ochs said. "We came in here with a different approach from the first time we played (a 1-0 Avon win), we put a lot of balls in play and limited our strikeouts."Young got North Ridgeville to go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth, getting a sparkling defensive play by Jordyn Smith at third for the first out, a strikeout and a slow roller to first to end the game.Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.