LAGRANGE — Strongsville’s softball team left the annual Prebis Memorial Classic on Friday afternoon thinking it had defeated Canfield, 2-1.
The Mustangs will learn differently when they return to Community Park this afternoon for their final two games of the four-game, 10-team invitational tournament. But that’s another story for a later time.
Of more current note is the busy and productive day Keystone’s Clare Sullivan turned in, providing the impetus for the Wildcats’ two victories. In the first game, they held on for an 8-4 victory over Nordonia. In the nightcap, they mercy-ruled Mercy High of Farmington Hills, Mich., 11-1, in six innings.
Sullivan went 4-for-7 at the plate with a sacrifice fly, six RBIs and four runs scored. Four of the RBIs came in the opener. Defensively, the senior second baseman faced 15 chances — 11 in the Mercy game — and handled 14 of them flawlessly.
She turned in the defensive play of the afternoon, a diving stab of a sharp liner in the third inning that she turned into a double play. It put Keystone fans on their feet and snuffed out a potential Nordonia rally.
“Every day at practice, coach (Marlon) Ford hits me a bucket of balls,” Sullivan said. “At first, I wasn’t laying out for them and he told me, ‘Once you do it, you won’t even think about it after that.’ So I didn’t even think about it, I just did it.”
Keystone also got two hits from center fielder Kim Kokoski and catcher Taylor Kessinger in the opener, and first baseman Taylor Bell drove two runs home, one with a first-inning sacrifice fly. Kara Dill scored three times for the Wildcats and Kokoski and Sullivan scored two runs apiece.
Kara Dill, the Wildcats’ starting shortstop and relief pitcher, went 3-for-3 in the nightcap against Mercy, scored twice and drove a run home. Sullivan, Bell and Kessinger had two hits apiece, and Sullivan again scored two runs and put up two more RBIs.
Sophomre right-hander Lauren Wagner started both games and earned the victories. For the day, she struck out eight, walked only three and allowed four earned runs. Dill relieved in both games. She allowed no hits in 2 1/3 innings, fanned two and walked none. At the plate, she was 4-for-6 for the day and scored five times.
“I’ve been seeing the ball real well,” said Dill, who is batting close to .600 for the season. “I worked on it a lot over the winter, working on my straight swing rather than just slapping. I worked on getting stronger and on power swings. I think it helped a lot because I have so many more options.”
Keystone, the state’s top-ranked team in Division II, improved to 14-2. The Wildcats wrap up the tournament today with games against Uniontown Lake and North Canton Hoover.
As for Strongsville, the Mustangs thought they had scored twice against Canfield for a 2-1 victory.
But after they left for home, the umpires reversed a ruling that involved a complicated series of base-running gaffes and defensive errors on one play. This made the score 1-1. The coaches will decide this afternoon whether to resume play, reverting to the fourth inning, or to call the game a tie.
The tournament wraps up this afternoon with five games each scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m.

Prebis Classic Results

Friday
First round
Keystone 8, Nordonia 4
Akron Hoban 4, Strongsville 0
North Canton Hoover 10, Mercy 0 (5 innings)
Uniontown Lake 3, Poland Seminary 2
Canfield 5, Hudson 0
Second round
Keystone 11, Mercy 1 (6 innings)
Akron Hoban 4, Poland Seminary 0
Uniontown Lake 7, Nordonia 5
Strongsville 1, Canfield 1*
North Canton Hoover 7, Hudson 0
    * Coaches to decide to resume today in fourth inning or agree to 1-1 tie.
Today
1 p.m.
Keystone vs. Uniontown Lake
Canfield vs. North Canton Hoover
Akron Hoban vs. Hudson
Strongsville vs. Poland Seminary
Nordonia vs. Mercy
4 p.m.
Keystone vs. North Canton Hoover
Hudson vs. Poland Seminary
Mercy vs. Akron Hoban
Strongsville vs. Uniontown Lake
Canfield vs. Nordonia

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