St. Paul storms past Port Clinton

NORWALK — There was a time when the response looked different. When the St. Paul softball team fell behind 3-0 after two innings on a cold Saturday afternoon at Norwalk Area Contractors Park, the Flyers didn't flinch. That wasn't always the case in the past for a program that won just 11 games in three seasons and had not posted a winning record in over 10 years before breaking through last season with a 13-12 mark and the first district win in 18 years. St. Paul erased the early deficit against visiting Port Clinton by the bottom of the fourth inning, then piled on the runs from there in a 14-6 win to improve to 2-1 overall. "We've really been working with the girls on just coming out of the gates and starting strong," St. Paul head coach Aaron Kalizewski said. "Unfortunately we haven't done that the last few games, but our bats have come alive and we've picked it up. "It's just finishing and getting going a lot sooner at the plate," he added. "We have a group of girls who can hit the ball this year, but we have to come out of the gates strong." The Redskins got a pair of singles to plate a run for a 1-0 lead after the first inning. Port Clinton then got a double along with a walk and an error by the Flyers to score two more runs for a 3-0 lead after the top of the third inning. But St. Paul got things rolling in the bottom of the third, which started with a single by Bella Guerra. Ella Kalizewski walked, then Mallorie Sowers followed with an RBI double. Taegan Mansfield-Bush then walked, and Payton Preston grounded into a fielder's choice that scored the second run. Port Clinton grabbed the lead back with an unearned run in the top of the fourth, but the Flyers took the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning. Allyson Takacs opened the frame by getting hit by a pitch, then Ryleigh Mansfield-Bush walked, and two batters later, Ella Kalizewski was also hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sowers then hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game, and Taegan Mansfield-Bush and Payton Preston followed with back-to-back RBI singles for a 6-4 St. Paul lead. Bella Guerra, Kalizewski, and Sowers each had consecutive RBI singles in the fifth to push the lead to 9-4. Taegan Mansfield-Bush added an RBI on a fielder's choice. Leading 10-5 in the sixth, the Flyers scored four more times. Addy Rospert and Kegney Stoll singled, and Amelia Taggart walked to load the bases with nobody out. Ryleigh Mansfield-Bush had an RBI single, then Stoll scored on a passed ball. Guerra drove in a run on a groundout, then Kalizewski closed out the scoring with a sacrifice fly. Taegan Mansfield-Bush allowed six runs (three earned) on 10 hits with nine strikeouts and three walks in a complete-game effort. "It's not a secret; we have pitchers who know their roles and do their job," Coach Kalizewski said. "The No. 1 thing we ask of them is don't give up walks. There might not always be a ton of swing and miss, but have the opponent put the ball in play without walking them. "We have had some early errors that we hope by midseason and toward the end of the season we're cleaning up, and if we do that, a game like today is maybe a 14-2 win instead. Our big thing is making the plays we can make and not making it harder on ourselves." St. Paul opened the season with a 12-3 loss at Tiffin Calvert on March 25. The Senecas were 22-5 last season and lost by a run in a regional semifinal after beating 18-win Hopewell-Loudon in a district title game. If the weather holds, the Flyers have the Chieftains in another challenge on Monday before visiting St. Mary Central Catholic on Tuesday and a crosstown game at Division III Norwalk on Wednesday. "The Calvert game is one that I like playing at the beginning," Coach Kalizewski said. "They are a great program, and that's a game that would maybe be nice to play toward the end of the year, but with the new brackets, we may see them at the end of the season. "Games like that are what we want, so we try to front-load our schedule with opponents like them, Hopewell, Norwalk, and we go to New Riegel and Edison in a couple of weeks. We want to be ready to roll once we get into the Firelands Conference. The Flyers graduated one regular from last season's breakthrough team. Now, the hope is another step awaits this spring. "We have some real good young players stepping in who are learning from the group that has been here for a while," Coach Kalizewski said. "We have great senior leaders who we expect a lot out of. If we can limit our errors and play the way we can, we will win a lot of games this year." P. Clinton 120 101 1 — 6 10 3 St. Paul 003 344 x — 14 14 4 WP: T. Mansfield-Bush; LP: Frohne 2B: (PC) Frohne; (SP) Sowers