SAFE — Conotton Valley’s Tiffany Donato gets her foot in under the tag of Madonna second baseman Mia Pietranton. — Mike Hughes
WHEELING — Conotton Valley left Wheeling Saturday afternoon with its fourth consecutive OVAC Class A softball crown.
A big reason for those championship made her final trip to the Lisa’s Field circle, displaying for all in attendance why she’ll be playing Division I collegiate softball in 2025.
Masy Baker struck out 15 batters against one walk and limited Madonna to two runs on three hits as the Rockets pulled away with an 8-2 win.
Baker kept the Blue Dons’ hitters off balance with a wicked change-up and a penchant for locating near-perfect pitches high and inside.
“That’s the best pitcher in these conference championships,” said Madonna head coach Jason Backel, tipping his cap to Baker’s performance.
“No offense to any of the other pitchers down here, but she’s the best on here. She’s already signed D-1. She makes it hard to get the bat on the ball.”
It didn’t help that when Madonna managed to put the ball in play, Baker’s teammates were nearly flawless behind her.
Madonna had a couple opportunities and finally managed to push two across in the sixth inning.
With two outs, catcher xxx Orecchio walked and moved to third on a double to left field by Ella Wingett.
Carmella Pulice then lined a single into centerfield, scoring both Pulice and Wingett. Pulice thought about going for second, but decided to head back to first, but she wasn’t quick enough as a heads up play by the Rockets got Pulice out at first to end the inning.
The two teams battled for 2 ½ innings before a couple fielding errors led to a three-run third for the Rockets.
Later, Madi Kelley fouled off four straight pitches before crushing a 2-2 pitch over the field in left for a 5-0 lead.
Three more runs were added in the sixth, nullifying any momentum Madonna built a half-ining earlier.
“We had one little bad inning and that was that,” Backel said. “It should have ended 5-2. This team blows a lot of teams out so I’m pretty happy with our effort.
“Am I happy with the loss? Of course not, but I’m happy with our effort.”
The game didn’t start well for Madonna pitcher Kendall Ryan, as Baker ripped a comebacker that connected immediately with her elbow on her non-pitching arm.
She needed a moment, but Ryan was able to stay in the game. A few innings later, Ryan took another comebacker, this time off the thigh. She gave a little laugh as if to say “seriously? As she shook it off and continued pitching.
Ryan had one strikeout against two walks and pitched a fairly solid game.
But the two-error inning hurt, along with the Rockets’ penchant for hitting gap shots and placing perfect bunts–No. 2 hitter Braxton Neilson dropped down three successful bunt singles.
OVAC Class A Final
Conotton Valley , Madonna 2
Madonna 000 002 0 – 2 3 2
Conotton Valley 103 013 x – 8 12 0
M – Ryan lp (1SO, 2W) and Orecchio. Wingett D; Pulice S, 2rbi; Ryan S.
C – Baker wp (15SO, 1W) and Williams. Baker 3S; Neilson 3S; Peters S, rbi; M.Kelley 2S, HR, 3rbi; Frutig S; Galigher S.
