PARMA, Ohio (April 24, 2024) -- Rocky River leveled its season record with a Great Lakes Conference crossover win over Valley Forge Wednesday. On an afternoon at Nike Park when the air and the gloves were cold, the bats were warm. and the Pirates prevailed in an 18-17 extra-inning contest rife with 30 hits, 19 walks, and 14 errors.
Valley Forge (4-9) found itself down 11-0 after the Double-R batted around in both the first and third frames. Freshman shortstop hit her second home run of the season as part of a five-run River third.
The next 12 outs of the game amounted to a 2-for-3 exchange in Rocky River's favor, and when the Patriots came to bat in the bottom of the fifth, they trailed 13-2. But the home nine leveraged multiple walks, multiple River errors, and key RBI hits by the team's 4-, 5-, and 6-batters.
Valley Forge and Rocky River (7-7) then traded solo runs in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh. The Patriots then tied the game 15-15 by pairing three Pirate errors with three hits in a five-run bottom of the seventh.
The top of the River order came through in the eighth. Base hits by Sienna DeMooy, Maggie Heigle, Juliana Benjamin, and Leigh Konet propelled the Pirates to a trio of runs in the top of the eighth. The Patriots managed two runs in the bottom of the inning, but the game ended on a ground ball to second baseman Carly Ewing.
For the game, Rocky River's line included 18 runs, 16 hits, and seven errors. The Patriots ledgered 17 runs, 14 hits, and seven errors. Eleven of the game's 30 hits went for extra bases. Heigle (double, triple) had two of those extra-base knocks as did Valley Forge's Kennedy Ochwat (two doubles) and Maegan Shumaker (two doubles).
Ochwat went 4-for-5 with two runs batted in and four runs scored.
River's top batting lines were registered by DeMooy (3-for-5, 2 RBI, four runs), Heigle (3-for-6, 4 RBI), and Smalley (2-for-4, two walks, 2 RBI, 4R, three stolen bases). Maggie Heigle is now 9-for-her-last-17 (.529) at the plate.
The Maroon & White are scheduled to host Lorain Thursday at 4:30 p.m. That contest at the Corner of Northview & 90 will mark Senior Day for the Pirates.
by Skip Snow
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