Strongsville Lady Mustangs Battle Raiders -- and the Cold

On an afternoon when the only thing more difficult than staying warm was getting a hit off of Strongsville's ace pitcher Emily Kolezynski, the Lady Mustangs rebounded from their only loss of the season less than 24 hours prior by beating a Division III standout, the Columbia Station Raiders, 2-0.

The Mustangs got to Columbia pitcher Emily Gault, a junior, early with a run in the first and another in the third, and it's a good thing they did. After the third inning, the 'Stangs could only muster one hit and one walk off the settled-down Gault for the remaining four innings. While the Mustangs earned only 2 runs off of seven hits and two walks, it proved to be all they needed.

The Mustangs opened the first inning with two bunt singles by Michelle Murach and Emily Jones. After a fielders choice moved Murach to third, Lauren Reitz stroked a single up the middle to score the first run of the game.

The Raiders, in an attempt to get a runner into scoring position in the bottom of the first, were treated to the arm strength of all conference catcher Natalie Mariano as she threw a perfect strike to second to cut down Columbia Station's team captain Emily Kus. Inning over.

After a quick, quiet, second inning, the Mustangs struck again in the third. Jones started the inning with her second hit of the game, a single to left. She then promptly stole second. After a fly out and ground out came the hit of the afternoon. Senior Danielle Kountz, who has been hot with the bat all season, ripped a shot over the left fielder's head for a double, scoring Jones from third.

It took the Raiders until the sixth inning to get a runner to second base as Jenny Kus walked with two outs and then stole second. The Raiders' only scoring threat of the afternoon was short lived as senior Danielle Riolo then grounded out to short.

While the bats were relatively quite for the Lady Mustangs, Murach and Jones pounded out two singles apiece.

Defensively for the Mustangs, besides another great game pitched by Kolezynski, who had six strikeouts in the seven innings, Colleen Mackenzie had five putouts in the contest from shortstop.

 "Our defense was flawless," boasted head coach Jeanette Howard, and she was right on the money. Compared to the 8-7 loss the day before to Stow in eight innings, when the Mustangs turned six errors into a handful of Stow runs, they had the leather working. No errors on 12 ground ball outs, two fly outs, six strikeouts and a caught stealing.

After the game, Columbia Head Coach Ken Richardson said, "Strongsville has very impressive speed at the top of their order" and also complimented the Mustang defense.

Richardson, a 1968 Strongsville High School graduate and a teacher in the Strongsville School system for 35 years, is in his fifth year as head coach of the Columbia Station Raiders softball team and is looking forward to improving on his 21-7 season of last year.

 The Mustangs' record improved to 4-1 on the 2011 campain. The Lady Mustangs will travel to Cardinal Mooney on Saturday before returning home to host Elyria High on Monday, April 11 at 4:30 p.m.