CHAMPION — With a younger squad, Champion wanted the opportunity to face some veteran pitching as the postseason looms. Welcoming in Division II Painesville Riverside Friday evening, the Golden Flashes weren’t able to string together enough hits, falling 4-2 to Beavers.
Senior pitcher Gabby Gradishar tossed all seven innings in the circle for Champion, recording 17 strikeouts, while going 2-for-3 at the plate, including her 52nd career home run during the bottom of the sixth that broke Allison Smith’s previous program record.
Originally wanting to schedule the contest earlier in April, Champion coach Cheryl Weaver and Riverside coach Bill Ross saw positives in seeing each other closer to tournament play.
“(Riverside) definitely wanted to face Gabby, and I just want the girls to face good teams and good pitching too. I try to tell them, as you move on, the pitching is going to get very, very good,” Weaver said. “I would have hoped we’d have done a little bit better, but it happens. They did a great job, so hopefully we’ll be up and ready on Monday.
“I like them seeing how (Riverside) carried themselves, there’s a lot of confidence and it doesn’t even matter if they strike out, they go back in that dugout wanting to be back up again to show what they can do. I think with having so many freshmen, some of them get down too easy, so it’s good that they see that.”
The Beavers (21-4) mustered a run during the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead, while Gradishar recorded the first 13 Riverside outs via the punchout. During the bottom of the sixth, with one out, Gradishar helped her cause with a record-breaking solo home run to right-center field to cut the lead down to one.
Riverside’s Clara Granchi knocked a two-run no-doubter during the top of the seventh, extending the lead to 4-1, although the Golden Flashes replied during the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single off the bat of freshman Josie Perhach to score fellow freshman Jonna Strock.
Strock went 2-for-3 with two doubles.
“You have to give credit to Riverside, they’re a great D-II team, we’re D-V, but that’s no excuse. We really didn’t come out with the bats today, but I think overall, we can take this as a lesson and move forward,” Gradishar said. “It was a scatter of pitches, my screwball, my riseball, my curve and change were all working. This season has definitely flown by, especially with all the rain and reschedules, it’s gone by quick.
“I think our team really bounced back (after the home run), even just in the defense, I know that we weren’t hitting the best that we could, but we took that on the defensive side and put effort in there.”
Weaver said Gradishar had dealt with an injury and took a couple days off to get ready for Riverside. She was pleased with her pitcher’s performance, but she wanted to see a better outing with her team at the plate.
“We can’t wait until the seventh inning to try to start hitting the ball.” Weaver said. “Teams learn to adjust to the pitchers a little bit sooner, we’re not adjusting as soon as we can. This team, for being all freshman infielders other than Gabby, they really are doing well, but they have to remember that we have to keep getting better as well.
“(The home run record) is wonderful, hopefully Gabby can break some more (records). She hits a few more and she’ll put it out of reach for a while. All of it is just great for her, she’s just been tremendous.”
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