ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- Senior Lexi Aguilar and junior Maggie Hill combined on a two-hitter, and the No. 2-through-5 batters in the River order went a robust 12-for-14 with nine runs batted in, as Rocky River defeated Fairview, 12-2, in a Senior Day-Battle of Wagar Road contest on Wednesday afternoon.
The Pirates posted crooked numbers in five of the game's six innings, as they slammed the door on a three-game losing skid. Aguilar and Hill worked around five walks and three River errors. Each tossed three innings of one-hit softball in the Great Lakes Conference affair at Pirate Field.
Rocky River (13-9, 8-6 GLC) and Fairview -- two schools separated by just two-and-a-quarter miles of pavement on Wagar Road/West 210th Street -- met on the diamond for the first time since May 2, 2018. The game marked their first as GLC foes. And it was all-River from the outset.
In the bottom of the first inning, Aguilar followed a two-run Kelsey Murphy double with an RBI single, and she took to the circle in the second with a 3-0 lead. The senior retired the side in order and would bat again in the second with the Pirates sending eight to the plate. Three of those eight scored in a four-hit frame highlighted by an Emily Satayathum double and a Katie Mommers triple.
The Double-R led, 6-2, when Hill took over in the fourth. The junior hurler worked through a bit of traffic in the fourth and fifth innings and would pitch a 1-2-3 sixth. The home nine closed out the mercy-rule victory with two in the fourth, two in the fifth, and two in the sixth. The Pirates had multiple hits in each of those innings and finished the game with 12.
Along the way, slots two, three, four, and five in the Pirate order pummeled Fairview pitching. Satayathum (4-for-5, two RBIs), Mommers (2-for-2, two walks, four runs), Murphy (3-for-3, three RBIs), and Aguilar (3-for-4, two RBIs) combined to collect all 12 River hits.
Murphy's first hit of the day broke a pair of Rocky River school records. She passed Marissa Smiley's single-season RBI mark (49 in 2017) and Jackie Hudec's single-season hit record (40 in 1996). Murphy's running totals after Wednesday are 52 and 42, respectively.
Aguilar -- who was tabbed with her first career win -- and Hill combined to hold the Warriors to an 0-for-8 mark with runners in scoring position. The Pirates went 9-for-16 in that same measure of clutch hitting.
Aguilar's fellow senior honoree on the day -- Maire Kelly -- logged a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored in five plate appearances. Kelly's theft was her 25th this season without being caught.
Peg Wednesday's game this way: seniors saluted, skid snapped. Records rewritten. Rival routed.
CANNON FIRE ...
VALUABLE VETS: Lexi Aguilar and Maire Kelly have both have played three seasons for the Pirates (2018, 2019, 2021). Prior to Wednesday's action, Aguilar was a career .341 (74-of-217) batter with 19 doubles and 53 RBIs. Kelly was a .257 (35-of-136) batter with 53 runs scored and a 37-of-38 record in base thievery. The two seniors have been key components of River's 2021 attack: Aguilar entered Wednesday's contest with a .431 batting average; Kelly entered with a .420 on-base percentage and 24 stolen bases.
M & M GIRLS: Kelsey Murphy has hit safely in eight straight games. Seven of those eight games have been of the multi-hit variety, and over the streak she is batting .769 (20-of-26). Murphy is batting .618 (42-of-68) on the season. ... Katie Mommers has hit safely in 14 of her last 15 games. With a double and a triple on Wednesday, the junior now has 14 extra-base hits (eight doubles, three triples, three home runs) on the season.
ON DECK: On Wednesday (5 p.m. at Pirate Field), River will host Clearview in a
LaGrange District contest as part of the 2021 D-II OHSAA Tournament.
by Skip Snow