The results of Monday’s doubleheader at Dana Field obviously weren’t what the Bradford softball team was hoping for. The Lady Owls (0-3) dropped both games to the Johnsonburg Ramettes (4-2) by scores of 14-6 and 15-0 (in four innings).
But for everyone involved with Bradford, it had to have been nice simply to go out and enjoy a game –– or two. The Lady Owls came into this week having played just one contest as a result of the inclement weather that has caused havoc to the early-season schedule.
“We’ve been averaging maybe two practices outside and then we’ve been inside in the gym,” Bradford coach Misty Antonioli said. “Hopefully the weather has finally broken.”
Bradford certainly looked like a team that was still trying to find its groove early in the season against a Johnsonburg side that’s been able to find some traction early on.
The Ramettes roared out to an early 4-0 first-inning lead in the first game, and eventually pushed their advantage to 8-0 in the fourth inning after Hannah Park knocked a two-run single.
But the Lady Owls showed good mental toughness despite falling into a deep early hole.
“We kept battling through it,” Antonioli said. “The first inning was a struggle. We’re trying to tell the girls that we’re going to power through those and work on each inning at getting better and better.”
Good baserunning in the home half of the fourth allowed Bradford to get on the board, as both Samantha Gross and Hannah Woodel scored from third on wild pitches.
The bats started to pick up in the fifth inning as well. Kelsey Jordan notched an RBI-double, while Woodel brought in another run on a sac fly.
Starting pitcher Kaylee Brown — who pitched the entire game despite some struggles — got out of a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning while allowing just one run to score.
An RBI-triple by Emily Warner cut the score to 11-5 in the sixth inning.
But that would be as close as Bradford would get. Lindsey Kocjancic, Park and Skylar Sherry all brought in runs on base hits in the seventh inning to allow Johnsonburg to pull away.
The second game was never in much doubt. Kocjancic was the star of the show at the plate. She began by crushing a two-run home run in the first inning.
Kocjancic then followed that up with a two-run triple in the second and a two-run double in the third, giving her six RBIs in three at-bats in three innings. It also brought her within a single of completing the cycle, which she might very well have accomplished had the game gone a full seven innings.
On the mound, Maria Jones pitched four scoreless innings, allowing just four Bradford hits.
Other Johnsonburg RBIs came from Britnee Thorwart, Sherry, Jones and Alyssa Kasmierski.
Bradford’s base hits (all singles), came from Brown, Gross, Warner and Makenzee Maley.
According to coach Antonioli, the message as the game wore on was to keep fighting, regardless of what the scoreboard said.
“Pick your head up. Battle it out. That’s what we’re trying to teach the girls. We want them to power through it no matter how bad it gets.”
In her first year at the helm, Antonioli is finding that it’s more about teaching her players how to play the game the right way rather than focusing on wins and losses.
“We’ve got some work to do as far as body language, attitude,” she said. “It all says a lot. We’re trying to instill that confidence, which can be a huge thing to overcome.”
The Lady Owls will be back in action today at Brookville.
