Avon softball edges North Ridgeville in eight innings, 1-0

For the second time this season, Avon’s softball team defeated North Ridgeville by the score of 1-0 on Monday as the Eagles moved to 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Southwestern Conference. The top six teams in the SWC are all within one game in the loss column.

In their first meeting on April 2, Avon scored in the bottom of the first inning and then held on due to the outstanding pitching of Maria Young. The sophomore was just as good in the second meeting, but this time the Eagles didn’t score until the eighth inning on consecutive doubles by Michaela Jankowski and Jocelin Ochs.

With one out, Jankowski hit a shot down the third base line that glanced off the glove of North Ridgeville’s third baseman. Ochs followed with a hit down the left field line that was just out of the reach of the left fielder and Jankowski was able to score the game’s only run.

Young allowed just two hits in eight innings, striking out 13 and walking two. She surpassed 100 strikeouts for the season against North Ridgeville and now has 108. She allowed two runners to get as far as third base, but each time she came up with a key out when she needed to.

Ochs led the offense with two hits and one run batted in. Averie Reichert also had two hits, and Jankowski, Young, Jordan Aysh and Jordyn Smith each had a hit.

The Eagles will next be in action Wednesday at Olmsted Falls.