Hot Stove Softball: Amherst rallies to beat Lorain

LORAIN — After an easy 12-0 win over Lorain Fran's Pizza to end the Class B (ages 11-12) Hot Stove softball regular season, the No. 6 Amherst Comets found themselves on the ropes early in their regional semifinal rematch at Campana Park on Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Lorain (11-4) benefited from early game wildness from Comets starter Zoey Greer, who walked five and allowed six runs, but Amherst clawed back to grab a 12-9 win over Lorain. The Comets improved to 19-11 and will face the winner of tonight's North Ridgeville Yellowjackets-Sheffield Venom matchup next Tuesday at Campana Park. After the rough first inning, Greer settled down, only allowing a pair of runs the rest of the way to secure the Comets a spot in the elite eight. After Maria Claudia Sierra opened the game with the first of her three hits, four of the next five batters drew walks with Jazmari Ortiz-Nieves and Makenna Casey drawing bases-loaded walks. Jade Boyce sent a run home with a ground ball and Sierra had her second hit of the inning to give Lorain a 6-0 lead. Amherst got one back in the second and came all the way back in the fourth, sending nine batters to the plate and scoring five times. Erica Hull opened the inning with a double, Aliza Meyers reached on a dropped third strike and the first run came home on a ground out to first off the bat of Addisyn Kirschner. Lela Wegman, Natalie Mendosa and Greer all came up with run-scoring hits to tie things at 6. After a 1-2-3 inning for the Comets with three straight ground outs to Boyce at third, Amherst took control with four runs in the sixth as Kirschner drove in a run with a ground ball and Aubrey Seabold came up with a huge two-out double over the left fielder's head to drive in three runs for a 10-6 advantage. Lorain scratched out runs in each of the last three innings, getting an unearned run in the fifth on a pair of Amherst errors, one in the sixth on a Brown hit and Boyce scored in the seventh on a Sierra ground out after reaching with a single. The sixth inning could have been huge for Lorain, but a heads up 1-5-4 double play short-circuited a rally for Fran's as Greer got a strikeout looking to end the inning. She finished the night with 13 strikeouts. Lorain starter Amily Broadstock took the loss, allowing only six earned runs while striking out six Comets batters. Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. CLASS B (ages 11-12) #10 Wellington Regulators, #13 Oberlin North Stars #5 N. Ridgeville Diamond Belles, #1Keystone CB #7 Grafton-Midview Varbros, #11 Black River Windridge Farm #2 Wellington Royals, #16 Firelands Falcons Black #8 Firelands Falcons Gray, #9 N. Olmsted Miller Gutter #12 Buckeye Fowler, #14 Grafton-Midview Elyria Ford #17 Sheffield Venom 7, #15 Lorain Titans 0 #6 Amherst Comets 12, #4 Lorain Fran's Pizza 9 CLASS C (ages 13-14) #5 Sheffield Venom, #6 N. Ridgeville Rangers