ELYRIA — Elyria Catholic probably wishes its Division III sectional softball game against Loudonville was postponed Wednesday just like several games in the area were.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, the game was played in spite of several light rain showers throughout the game and one heavier one in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The result left the Panthers all wet, too, as the Loudonville Redbirds (15-11) knocked EC (15-6) off the tournament trail by a 5-2 decision.
And EC wasn’t warmed by a controversial umpire’s decision in the seventh inning either, but Panther coach Brian Daw put most of the blame for the loss on his team’s offense.
“Yesterday we had 13 hits against a slower pitcher and today we just couldn’t make the adjustment against the faster pitcher,” Daw said. “We were very flat today and we were up against a good pitcher. She moved the ball around and we just couldn’t adjust after facing a very slow pitcher.”
The Panthers had a chance to strike first, but after loading the bases with one out, Loudonville pitcher Kaitlin Davis struck out Natali Kaczmarczyk and got Rachel Wilden to ground out to second base.
That seemed to spark Loudonville, which scored a run in the third inning, and four more in the fourth.
After escaping the second-inning threat, Davis settled down and held the Panthers scoreless until the seventh.
Shortstop Emily Taylor opened the inning with a single to center and, after a walk, Molly O’Malley singled to center to load the bases.
Kaczmarczyk came to the plate and worked the count to
3-2 before seemingly hitting a line drive to the gap in right-center that cleared the bases. But Davis had tried to quick-pitch Kaczmarczyk and the base umpire called for play to be stopped, apparently declared no pitch before Kaczmarczyk’s hit.
After a long discussion, it was decided that it was a no-pitch situation instead of an illegal quick pitch, forcing all players to return to their original bases.
After the discussion, Loudonville coach Bill Herman replaced Davis with first baseman Kellie Derr, who struck out Kaczmarczyk. Derr then unleashed a wild pitch that allowed a run to score, and a second run scored after the throw got past Derr, but that’s all the scoring EC could put up.
“I came into this game blind,” Herman said. “I knew nothing about (Elyria Catholic) except that they had a good year and were seeded ahead of us. I told the girls we were going to have to play a good game if we want to win.”

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