ELYRIA — A four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning kept Avon’s 10-11-year-old girls championship hopes alive with a 5-4 win over Elyria in a District 3 tournament game at Vic Janowicz Memorial Park on Saturday evening.
Avon, which held the upper hand for the game’s first four innings, avenged Tuesday’s 9-1 loss to Elyria and forced a deciding game Monday at Veterans Memorial Park at 6 p.m.
“(Friday’s) 14-1 win over Tallmadge definitely was a confidence boost for us,” said Avon manager Jeff Barley. “I’m very proud of our girls and how they kept their composure to come back and win this game.”
Winning pitcher Amanda Barley led off the Avon sixth with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. After a strikeout and a ground out, Becky Horvath cracked her second double to put runners on second and third. Sierra Davidson singled home Barley for Avon’s second run.
Avon shortstop Ali Clark popped an 0-1 pitch midway between the plate and the pitcher’s circle, and Elyria’s fielders miscommunicated on the popup, allowing Avon to load the bases with Jessie Yurkovich coming to bat.
Yurkovich blooped an 0-1 pitch into short right field to bring home Horvath and Davidson, before Avon catcher Erin King laced an 0-1 pitch down the left field line to score Clark, who made it to third on Yurkovich’s hit, for the game-winning run.
“Jessie and Becky have been hitting very well for us the last two games,” said Jeff Barley. “And, a big difference today compared to Tuesday’s game is that we made contact and got the hits where we wanted them and not at somebody who would make the putout.”
“Obviously, this was a tough game to lose,” said Elyria coach Mike Ellis, who was filling in for manager Chris Sito, who had a prior commitment. “But, that’s what softball is all about.
“Avon made one more play that we didn’t. It came down to the last at-bat. Unfortunately, it wasn’t us. We made mistakes that we haven’t made prior to this tournament game.”
Clark walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning and later scored the Avon’s first run. That run looked like it might hold up, as the Elyria girls struggled to get a rally going until the top of the fifth.
Taylor O’Dell’s triple to right field brought Margot Novak and Carly Bachna home with Elyria’s first two runs before two more runs in the top of the sixth gave it a 4-1 lead.
Elyria shortstop Katie Travers scored her team’s third run on a double by catcher Olivia Morris when it was ruled that the Avon third baseman interfered with Travers coming to the plate. Morris raced home with the fourth run when Madison Fullmer dropped a bunt single just in front of the plate.
Fullmer was tagged out by the Avon shortstop as she attempted to make it to second. A strikeout and a groundout put an end to the rally and paved the way for the late-game heroics.
“Amanda was in great control of her pitches,” said Barley of his daughter’s performance. “She had them confused for a lot of the game’s first four innings.
“We said before the game that we wanted to limit our errors and to avoid the big inning. We did that and now we have a chance to win this tournament.”
“Most of my pitches were working for me,” said Amanda. “I got a lot of their batters out on my changeup. My drop ball also was working very effectively. I’m so happy that I didn’t get rattled and we kept our composure to stay alive for another game.”
“Avon has a very good program,” said Ellis. “Their pitcher threw a great game as we struggled with her until we could put together a couple rallies.”
Contact Jerry Henson at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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