ELYRIA — It was one of those situations the bat-and-ball sports do so well. It unfolded in a game between two state-ranked softball teams with a championship on the line on a picture-perfect Saturday morning in May.
No. 1 Elyria defeated No. 8 Brunswick, 2-0, to capture the Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division crown. In doing so, the Pioneers (25-1) avenged their only loss before a large and vocal crowd at the old West High complex.
It was as tense and suspenseful as a softball game can be. But tense and suspenseful don’t begin to tell the story of the single at-bat that decided the outcome. One spectator described it as “an epic battle.” It was all of that.
The Pioneers’ Tess Sito, one of the most dangerous hitters in Ohio, stood in against the Blue Devils’ Emlyn Knerem, one of the most overpowering pitchers in the state. Scoreless game. Elyria’s Amy Bally on first running for catcher Jen Bower, whose single had broken up Knerem’s perfect game — 10 batters, 10 strikeouts.
With Knerem throwing smoke, Sito took a called strike, then swung at and missed the second pitch. She took two balls, then fouled off five straight pitches, three of them long screamers to the left side that put Elyria fans on their feet. Knerem missed outside for ball three and the crowd went suddenly quiet with the count 3-and-2.
By now you suspect what happened. It did.
Sito, the Pioneers’ pitcher, launched an extraordinarily high fly to left field that looked as though it would be too high to carry. But as it climbed, it also lengthened. It easily cleared the left-field fence 220 feet away, provided the margin of victory and went into the books as Sito’s sixth home run of the season. Brunswick fell to 22-5.
“I stood in the back of the box, which coach told us to do,” said Sito, “and I could see every ball so much better. I was concentrating a lot and fouling off every ball. But I was confident I could put it in play and move Amy around. But (the homer) was even better.”
Pioneers coach Ken Fenik thought so, too. He talked about Sito’s swing.
“We tried to shorten her up a little bit just for the contact,” said Fenik. “But Tess battled and battled and would not give in. That ball — the hang time must have been what, an hour? I was thinking, ‘It’s gonna get caught. No it isn’t. I don’t know.’ I wish we had a panorama of everybody’s face looking up at the sky.”
Another thing: After Knerem retired the side with her 11th strikeout in four innings, Sito returned to the circle and to work on her own 13-strikeout one-hitter, in which she faced the minimum 21 batters. Brunswick’s runner, Megan Foley, who singled, was erased in a rundown when Bower picked her off first as Lauren Boulton struck out.
“I had to do it for the seniors, that’s basically what I wanted,” said Sito, a junior. “I wanted the conference too, but it was for these seniors.”
It was the final game on their home diamond for the Pioneers’ five seniors.
It was only the third loss in 20 decisions for Knerem, who struck out 15 in a three-hitter. Like Sito, she walked no one.
“She’s a good pitcher, we can’t deny that,” junior right fielder Sarah Bracey said of Knerem. Bracey also put the ball in play in the Elyria fourth. “Her rise is crazy. I heard people yell, ‘Just lay off the rise and you can hit her.’ But that’s a lot harder than you think.”
The team’s seniors were honored with flowers, balloons and gifts afterward. In their four seasons, Bower, Bally, Megan Bashak, Jessica Bellottie and Jessica Mandula have crafted a 109-15 record while winning three district and two regional tournament championships and competing in the last two Division I state championship games.
“It’s been amazing, all four years,” said Bashak, who also singled in the fourth.
A pitcher, Bashak has been playing the infield and outfield and batting cleanup since she broke two fingers on her pitching hand during practice last month.
“We’ve had a lot of team chemistry over the years and each year it has grown more and more,” she said. “It’s still so much fun and it’s so competitive.”

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