High school softball: Jada Smith strikes out a career-high 15 to down Elyria, keep Avon undefeated

AVON — Jada Smith said her goal for Wednesday's game against Elyria was to get at least five strikeouts. The Avon junior pitcher did a little better than that, finishing with a career-high 15 as the Eagles won 9-4 in the Southwestern Conference opener for both teams. "She did an awesome job moving the ball around," Avon coach Ken Matuszak said. "She had good movement in the later innings and that's what we're looking for. (We're) playing very, very well right now, especially when we can pitch like that." Elyria (1-1) got on the board first when junior Morgan Palos started the game with a triple off the center field wall and then scored on Kaidyn DeChant's sacrifice squeeze bunt. It was the only hit Smith allowed over the first four innings as Avon (4-0) roared back with five runs. Sarah Perry's single to left scored Lauren Fischer and Lauren Robinson's single up the middle brought home Natalie Thomas to make it 2-1 after one inning. Fischer and Perry drove in runs in the second, and Robinson picked up an RBI with a bases-loaded walk in the fourth. The Pioneers answered with a strong fifth inning. Palos hit a one-out single up the middle, DeChant had an infield single to short and Jae'Nya Witherspoon brought Palos in with a single down the first-base line. Alliyah Alberto reached on an error — bringing home another run — and Keilee Taylor walked and stole second after Witherspoon scored on a passed ball. With runners on third and second with only one out — and after the Pioneers had trimmed Avon's lead to 5-4 — Smith struck out the next two batters to end the rally. She then struck out the side in order in the sixth. "I was like, 'I need to do my job as a pitcher and throw strikes and hit my spots so we can get out of the inning,'" Smith said. "I feel that I do better under pressure. If I'm not under pressure I feel like I fall asleep a little bit, so I thrive under pressure. "I was in the zone (during that five-strikeout run) and nothing was going to stop what I wanted to do." The Eagles apparently felt Smith needed a nap because they immediately answered Elyria with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, then added another in the sixth. Grace Mangan had a two-run double to left-center and Perry had an RBI single to left in the fifth, and Fischer brought the final run home when she beat out an infield single to the left side. The nine runs weren't a surprise for the Eagles, who've scored 38 in their first four games. "(The offense) was led by Grace Mangan, our captain," Matuszak said. "She did a really good job (going 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored). We got people on base and she knocked them in. Sarah Perry (3-for-3 with three RBIs) did a great job as well." Elyria's ability to put together a strong inning against a hot team to pull within one late in the game was something Pioneers coach Megan Bashak knows could serve her players well as the season progresses. "It is something to build on and we have to keep in mind that we are very young," Bashak said. "Right now we're down a big senior player (Kloie Troutman) and we have a kid from last year who's just coming off injury and is new to third base (sophomore Jaelyn Green) and we have four freshmen starting. "This was our first big game and they didn't do too bad and they're only going to get better." One of the freshman starters was pitcher Grace Blazina. She battled through some accuracy issues with seven walks, five wild pitches and three hit batters, but Bashak left her in and she finished the game with a pair of strikeouts. "We're working on trying to hit our locations and it's early in the season," Bashak said. "She's got to learn to push through and right now she's my No. 1, so she's got to learn that now." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.