by Brent Hovey
Reporter
Aurora -- During a busy week, the Aurora girls softball team (7-6 heading into this week's action) went 2-3, including a huge conference win.
The week started with two key Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division matchups against Kenston. AHS lost at home 4-3, but won on the road 6-5.
The locals got a win later in the week over Riverside 8-5 before being swept by Copley in a doubleheader 7-0 and 7-0.
The Greenmen had a lot of momentum coming into the week. During the NDCL tournament April 19, AHS notched its most exciting win of the year against Beaumont.
AHS was leading 3-2, but Beaument tied it up in the sixth inning and forced overtime. The game remained 3-3 until Hannah Yoe sent everyone to lunch happy.
With two outs in the ninth, Yoe blasted a ball into left-center. With no fence, the ball kept rolling. Yoe sprinted around the bases and turned it into a homer.
"It was the most exciting game of the year," said coach Jaclyn Spirtos. "We were all excited. Our pitcher was tired -- I didn't know how many more innings she could pitch -- and we had another game."
Adding to the incentive to win was that the winning team got to eat lunch first between games.
"We were hungry and tired and just wanted to eat; maybe that's what won the game for us," Spirtos said.
Games against Kenston
In the first four innings against Kenston on April 21, the Greenmen opened a 3-0 lead. But Kenston tied the game in the sixth and scored the game winner in the seventh.
"They scored a couple of times and our errors let them sneak back in," Spirtos said. "We were able to come back after that."
AHS could have easily let the disappointing loss affect it for the rematch April 22, but didn't.
"We should have come away with the first game, but we let them have it," Spirtos said. "On Tuesday, we were out for revenge." And they got it.
The Greenmen struck early with 6 runs in the first, and that number held up.
The Bombers chipped away with a run in the first, third and sixth and 2 in the fifth. They threatened to tie the game, but couldn't.
Kenston had runners on first and third with one out, then in the seventh got a runner on second, but couldn't score.
Christene Buonpane pitched her way out of both jams with help from her defense.
Spirtos, in her first year as head coach, didn't know about the rivalry between Kenston and Aurora, and said she saw a different Aurora team than she is used to.
"The games are so intense. The girls are so intense. You see a different side of the girls in these games," she said. "They were able to channel that intensity and get a big win."
Yoe had another big game. She was the only girl with 2 hits and drove in a run. Sara Bergoine was the only girl with 2 RBI.
Aurora stood 3-1 in the CVC as of April 28, with two big games against Perry early in the week.
More play last week
"We hit, but made too many errors [against Riverside]. Fortunately, we kept scoring," the coach said.
"We wanted to keep scoring. We had to learn from the Kenston games, and we scored in almost every inning, so that was good to see."
Buonpane and Mary Beth Pavlick led the way offensively. Pavlick hit a 2-run homer and Buonpane added a 2-run triple.
"We're starting to get big hits," Spirtos said. "Mary Beth has struggled, but went 2 for 3, and that should give her some confidence."
Chrysa Kovach had a pair of RBI and Dana Bartlett had one.
AHS was dominated at Copley, managing just one hit in each game of the doubleheader.
"They had a dominant pitcher and we just weren't able to make contact," said Spirtos. "We had too many errors and didn't give ourselves a chance."
One high point was the play of Libby Swanson. "She played great both games," Spirtos said. "Defensively, she was awesome. She broke up a perfect game with a single and walked a few times."
Spirtos said she hopes the team learns from the two Copley losses.
"We have a busy week coming up. Hopefully, we can get a couple of wins," she said. "Copley was disappointing, but we need to learn from it and come back to win some conference games."
Aurora plays seven games in the next six days.
Today (April 30), the locals are at Kent Roosevelt for a makeup. On May 1, they travel to Streetsboro, May 2 is home against Ravenna and May 3 is a doubleheader at home against Hathaway Brown.
E-mail: bhovey@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3115