High school softball: Avon's Maria Young reigns despite rain

AVON — Nothing seems to faze Avon sophomore pitcher Maria Young. Not a 45-minute rain and lightning delay. Not an error in the outfield that put two runners aboard in the top of the seventh and not even losing a no-hit bid in the same inning. Young came back focused on every one of those negatives to give Avon (5-4, 4-2 SWC) an 8-2 win over its biggest Southwestern Conference rival, Avon Lake (2-4, 0-3), on Wednesday evening. "I was just warming up with my catcher on the side and just wanted to stay in the zone," Young said. "When I got out there, I just felt the same way I did at the beginning of the game. Do what I can. Throw strikes and just play my game." Young struck out six Shoregals over the first three innings before lightning and then rain delayed the game for 45 minutes. Fortunately, Avon's turf held up just fine and Young did, too. She fanned the first four batters she faced after the break and after an error on a very routine fly to right-center in the seventh, came back to strike out the next batter. Even after Avon Lake's Addison Dunleavy broke up her no-hit and shutout bid with a towering triple to left, Young answered with two more strikeouts to complete the win. "I was (disappointed)," she admitted when the no-hitter was lost. "You just have to swipe it and move on." Avon scored three runs in the first off an infield hit by catcher Michaela Jankowski, a walk to Young and Averie Reichert's triple to right. The Eagles added three more in the second on a couple walks and an error by the Shoregals and pushed the lead to 8-0 with a run in the third off an RBI single from Jenna Smith. That's when lightning first appeared, delaying the game. It also, with the exception of Young, caused the Eagles to lose their edge according to coach Jason Ochs. "They came out and did what we expected early," Ochs said. "One thing I can tell you from being with (football) Coach Mike Elder for so many years, how hard you have to play to get wins in the Southwestern Conference. I just don't think we played at our level through the whole thing. We used it as a teachable moment so they understand how to finish out games." Ochs was high in his praise of Young, however. "We have two pitchers with Maria and Jordyn Smith that we believe in," Ochs said. "They both work very hard on the mental aspect of the game." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com.