AMHERST — As the balls zipped past the batters, Elyria pitcher Megan Bashak’s smile continued to grow.
Bashak knew she was playing in her final high school softball game when she was given the opportunity to close out the game for the White squad in the 2008 Lorain County All-Star game Monday at Sliman’s Diamond.
“I really didn’t expect to pitch last,” Bashak said. “Mr. (Norm) Frindt said, ‘We’ll put you in last so you can finish it.’”
Bashak struck out four of the final six batters to pick up the save in White’s 2-1 victory over the Pink team, then was named the all-star game’s Most Valuable Player.
“I heard my name and I was like, ‘What?’” Bashak said. “I was like, ‘What did I just win?’”
The award provided a nice finish to a stellar high school career for Bashak. The Pioneer senior — who walked twice, stole a base and scored White’s first run — had her eye on the county’s top prize and felt an injury that sidelined her earlier this season cost her that award.
“As soon as I broke my finger I knew Miss Softball was out of the picture,” said Bashak, who only pitched in a handful of innings late in the season. “I had wanted to win that since I was a freshman. So I really wanted to finish strong and win as many awards as I could at the end of the season.”
The Miss Softball award went to Admiral King’s Jillian Van Wagnen, who then thrilled the crowd by going 2-for-2, stealing a base and driving in the game-winning run in the first inning.
“When I went up to bat (after winning the award) they were all screaming,” Van Wagnen said of her teammates and fans. “So I said, ‘I have to really perform.’”
Van Wagnen said her main goal coming into the all-star game was to just have some fun and “end my senior season on a great note.”
With only two at-bats in the game, the Admiral said she really needed to pick up the stolen base in the seventh inning to appease one of her biggest fans.
“I had to get dirty,” Van Wagnen said pointing to the dirt-caked front of her uniform. “I always get dirty and if I didn’t I don’t think my mom would be happy because she’s the one who does all my laundry.”
The Pink squad received a shining performance from Wellington’s Melanie Conklin — who picked up six swinging strikeouts while facing six batters in two innings of relief work, and smacked a single to left field in the fourth inning to break up the White team’s no-hitter.
The Pink team later ended the shutout bid in the sixth when Amherst’s Miranda Szucs singled up the middle to drive in Oberlin’s Angela Daugherty, who led off the inning with a single to left-center.
“There wasn’t any pressure (at the plate) because it’s just an all-star game,” Conklin said. “(On the mound) I was just having fun out there and I think that’s why I did good. Plus I had my catcher (Wellington’s Melissa Sawyer) here and I think that was a big part of me being successful.”
The White team picked up its runs in the first when North Ridgeville’s Jamie Frindt singled to left field to advance Bashak to third, Wellington’s Brittany Gow singled off the third baseman’s glove to score Bashak and Van Wagnen singled to left field to score Frindt.
“It was a little different out there playing with all these girls that used to be competitors of ours,” Bashak said. “Now they’re my teammates and that’s a lot of fun.”
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.

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