High school softball: Brunswick pulls off late rally to beat Medina

MEDINA — Aaliyah Radwan gave her team a chance to get back in it, Kourtney Abshire got her team back in it and Morgan Kinney won it. For a win-starved Brunswick softball team, it added up to a 6-4 comeback victory over Medina in Greater Cleveland Conference play Monday. "We needed to win pretty badly," said Radwan (1-2), who not only pitched 4 2/3 innings of hitless relief to pick up the victory but didn't allow a ball out of the infield while striking out five and walking three. "We all needed the excitement and the coming together moment." The defending GCC champion Blue Devils (2-4, 1-0) struggled for much of their five-game trip to Tennessee and that continued against the Bees (1-5, 0-1), who led 4-0 after three innings and could have been up more in their first game back from Myrtle Beach, S.C. "We needed the last few innings with our bats coming alive," said Abshire, who had a three-run home run and triple. "We weren't hitting very well." Brunswick got its first run in the fourth on a three-base error and sacrifice fly by Kinney, setting the stage for the biggest hit of the day in the sixth. After Kinney reached via a walk and Ellie Williams (single, double, RBI) got on courtesy of Medina's second outfield error of the game, Bees starter Alexa Kuczkowski (0-4) induced Giovanna Diligente to pop to first for the second out of the inning. The 5-foot-3, 125-pound Abshire then turned on a low fastball and tied the game with a home run to left field. "With two outs, my biggest thing was just to put the bat on the ball," the junior said. "I hadn't been making very good contact in Tennessee. The pitch was low, which is what I like. "At first I thought I might have hit it too high, then I looked — I know I'm not supposed to do that — and thought, 'Wow, it might have a chance of going out!' When it did, I was just so happy. We were tied and back in the game. I knew momentum was on our side." Brunswick scored twice in the seventh to win. No. 2 hitter Sam Timar led off with a walk and scored on Kinney's one-out double to right-center. Kinney then scored an insurance run on Williams' two-out double. Radwan gave up a leadoff walk in the bottom half of the inning but retired the 2-3-4 hitters in Medina's lineup to end the game. The junior right-hander located her fastball and curveball well and used her screwball more than normal because the Bees had five lefties in their lineup. "I was thinking just do my job, do what I can to help the team," Radwan said. "Once we had the momentum (after Abshire's homer), it was easier for all of us." Medina went up 1-0 two batters into the game when Natalie McGraw (3 walks, 2 runs) drew a base on balls from Brunswick starter Ellie Germano and scored on an opposite-field double by Amelia Cassidy (2 runs). Cassidy then scored on the first of two singles by No. 3 hitter Carley Ostendorf. Ostendorf, however, was later thrown out trying to score on Sammi Rambo's grounder to second, and Rambo was thrown out after rounding first too far to end the inning. It looked like that wouldn't matter when McGraw drew a one-out walk in the third and Cassidy reached via an error. Ostendorf singled to load the bases, with McGraw scoring on a sacrifice fly by Ryann Allar and Cassidy coming home when Brunswick threw to the wrong bag on Rambo's single to right. After a walk to Sadie Hill loaded the bases with two outs, Radwan came on in relief and got Alexa Kuczkowski to ground out. Medina didn't have a runner reach second base the rest of the day. Kuczkowski (0-4) battled gamely in the circle for the Bees, holding an explosive Brunswick team to six hits and two earned runs while walking five and striking out two. "I knew they were a good hitting team," the junior said. "I had to hit my spots and be accurate and not get down when they got hits." With a little more help from her offense and defense Kuczkowski might have broken into the win column, but she paid dearly for one bad pitch to Abshire, as well as the leadoff walk in the seventh. "I just left it a little flat," she said of the pitch to Abshire. "You just have to come back and make the next pitch." And get the next hit, which Medina never did after the third inning. "We were up and started getting a little comfortable," Kuczkowski said. "We have to keep being energetic throughout the game. We can't let down. "We talk about coming back the next game, so we'll try to keep our energy up the whole time. That's something we need to work on." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter. Brunswick 6, Medina 4 BRUNSWICK 000 103 2 — 6 6 1 MEDINA 202 000 0 — 4 4 2 WP — Aaliyah Radwan (1-2) 4 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts. LP — Alexa Kuczkowski (0-4) 7 innings, 2 earned runs, 5 walks, 2 strikeouts. Brunswick (2-4, 1-0) — Kourtney Abshire triple, home run, 3 RBIs; Morgan Kinney walk, double, sacrifice fly, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Ellie Williams single, double, run, RBI. Medina (1-5, 0-1) — Carley Ostendorf 2 singles, RBI; Amelia Cassidy double, 2 runs, RBI; Natalie McGraw 3 walks, 2 runs.