ASHTABULA—Perry pounded out 18 hits in extending its Chagrin Valley Conference winning streak to 75 straight games with a 13-1 win over host Edgewood on Thursday.
“We didn’t even mention it to the girls but I think it’s important to celebrate the small victories,” said Perry coach Joe Medlen of the milestone win. Some of the girls, especially the seniors that came through the system as freshmen, been a really big part of it and those celebrations are coming to an end for them. They have two more CVC games and then that’s it and the streak is over for them but they’d love to keep that legacy going.”
Perry struck early and often.
Elise Strahan hit a one-out single in the top of the first and Calli Thompson reached on an error to put runners on second and third for Lily Agostine, who also reached on an error that gave Perry an early 2-0 lead.
Edgewood responded with one run in the bottom half of the inning on a Sophia Paolillo triple and Kaitlyn Ezzone’s RBI single.
It was all Perry after that.
Emma Pietrzak singled in her first at-bat of the season after returning from an injury and Madeline Infalvi singled her home later in the second inning.
“That’s special,” Medlen said of Pietrzak’s return. “She’s been going to her doctor and physical therapist trying to figure out what she can and cannot do. Yesterday she started running and we were just going to pinch run her and today she wanted to try hitting. That’s just a huge bonus for our team getting her back in time for the playoffs. We’re a week and a half away and that’s just a big bonus to have her back.”
The Pirates exploded for six runs in the fourth inning.
Pietrzak started the rally with a double and she scored on a Hailey Hodge sacrifice fly. Infalvi followed with a single and stole second. She scored on Strahan’s single. Gigi Vicini pushed the Perry lead to 6-1 with her two-out RBI single and then Thompson, Agostine, and Rosalyn Tharp hit back-to-back-to-back RBI triples to push the lead to 9-1.
Vicini led off the Perry sixth with a single and scored on Agostine’s RBI single and then the Pirates added three more runs in the top of the seventh, all with two outs.
Infalvi and Strahan both reached on an error, Vicini singled, and Thompson tripled to close out the scoring.
Infalvi finished the day 4-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Vicini and Agostine both recorded three hits, and Strahan, Thompson, and Pietrzak each had two.
Five of Perry’s 18 hits went for extra bases.
“It was a great game,” Medlen said. “We started pushing some runs across in the middle innings.”
Faith Hartman threw the first four innings to earn the pitching victory. She allowed one run on three hits and struck out six. Mia Ward allowed five hits and struck out four in three scoreless innings.
“They aren’t going to blow the ball by you 60 miles an hour but they can hit spots and have incredible spin on the ball, which really keeps the batters off-balance,” Medlen said. “They’re both seniors and to see them continue what they’ve been doing for four years is impressive. They have a lot of wins between them.”
Perry improved to 13-5 overall.
Claire Randolph, Ezzone, and McKenna Vencill each had two hits for Edgewood.
