It ended too soon, but the season won’t soon be forgotten.
The second-seeded Avon Eagles fell, 2-0, to fourth-seeded Westlake in the Division I Avon Lake District final May 22 to end a historic season highlighted with a 19-9 record and West Shore Conference title.
‘I said win or lose, before this game, this game will not define our success,’ Avon coach Ken Matuszak said.
The result was a hard-fought pitchers’ duel between Avon senior Anna Edwards and Westlake junior Katie Lew.
The first two innings went scoreless before visiting Westlake struck in the third.
With one out, Demons center fielder Danielle Dill tripled to right and scored on a fielding error to give Westlake a 1-0 lead.
Avon’s biggest threat followed during its share of the third. Center fielder Kaylee Morton hit a one-out single to right and an error by the left fielder allowed Alexis Dill to reach base. But Lew held tough in a battle with Edwards at the plate, inducing a flyout to end Avon’s threat.
Lew allowed just one hit after the third inning for three hits on the day. She walked none and struck out five.
‘She throws a lot of curves and a lot of rises,’ Matuszak noted. ‘I thought we hit her pretty well.’
‘She had her strikeouts but we wanted to put it in play against her, just like Elyria did yesterday, and we just didn’t have that timely hit.’
Westlake crafted another threat in its share of the fifth inning as Caroline Hazapis led off with a single to left-center and stole second. A sacrifice bunt moved Hazapis to third, but Edwards recovered to record a strikeout and line-out to escape any damage. Edwards allowed five hits on the day, walking one and striking out six.
Westlake cashed in some insurance in the seventh.
Second baseman Macie Menichini started the inning with a bloop single to left and pinch runner Kylie Brown advanced to second on a groundout. Hazapis added her second hit of the day with a triple that skipped past the left fielder to score Brown.
With a two-run cushion, Lew needed little help in the seventh, recording a pair of strikeouts and a popup to end the afternoon.
Westlake improves to 25-5 and will face first-seeded Brecksville-Broadview Heights in a regional semifinal May 28. The Demons are currently ranked eighth in the latest Division I state coaches’ poll. Brecksville (24-1) is ranked third.
Two seniors, Edwards and catcher Ally Sumser, depart the Eagles program. Losing the battery hurts, but Matuszak looks forward to the high volume of returnees next year. In addition to reaching the district final, the Eagles earned their first WSC title in 39 years this season.
‘These seniors, they set the program,’ Matuszak said. ‘They set it from here on out, what we want to accomplish at Avon softball, so hats off to them. They played hard and I couldn’t be prouder of them.’
