LaGRANGE, Ohio -- Rocky River's postseason run came to a close Tuesday, as the Pirates lost to the Padua Bruins, 8-3.

A 3-0 mid-game lead slipped away against a Bruins squad which leveraged three extra-base hits and two River errors to score seven runs over the final two frames. The Rocky River-Padua contest marked a semifinal game in the LaGrange District bracket of the DII Ohio Softball Tournament.

The No. 9-seeded Pirates manufactured two runs in the first inning and would get one more in the bottom of the fourth when senior first baseman Lexi Aguilar singled and came around to score on a Bruins error. Junior starting pitcher Katie Mommers worked four scoreless frames before running into trouble in the fifth. A one-out double came in to score to get No. 14 Padua on the board.

And that two-bagger would be a harbinger of more extra-bases to come for a Bruins nine that would go 8-for-its-last 17 in the game. Half of those eight late Padua hits were of the extra-base variety. Padua tallied three runs in the sixth stanza and four more in the seventh.

River was held hitless over innings five, six, and seven. The Pirates were outhit, 8-3, for the game.

"I'm proud of our fight in this game," said head coach Jeff Hammond. "We were especially strong defensively, and that was great to see."

The Pirates (15-11) will continue their 2021 campaign with a post-postseason: River will play Great Lakes Conference games at Holy Name on Wednesday and Elyria Catholic on Friday.


by Skip Snow

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