High school softball: Medina gets long-awaited win over Brunswick

BRUNSWICK — The Medina softball team's seniors celebrated an accomplishment they had been striving for when they defeated Brunswick 5-4 in a Greater Cleveland Conference game Tuesday. The game came down to the last out, as Bees center fielder Katie Rubino and right fielder Olivia Kish made diving catches to rob Addison Compton and Bri Flanigan, respectively. The catches came with Abbey Nemec representing the tying run on first base. The win kept Medina (11-4, 4-1) on the heels of defending GCC champion Mentor (11-6, 5-0). The Cardinals beat the Bees 9-2, but Medina hosts the second meeting May 11. "We all feel so happy, so incredible," said Bees senior Hannah Neal, who went 3-for-4 and a run. "We haven't beaten this team in my four years. Kudos to them, but we're all so excited (to get this win)." While the Bees stepped up on defense when it counted the most, the Blue Devils (10-8, 1-3) paid for a couple of costly mistakes that directly led to Medina's final three runs. With two outs in the fourth inning, the Bees doubled their lead to 4-0 when Neal and Lilly Cassidy scored after Rubino reached on an error with two outs. Neal and Cassidy had singled. In the sixth, Rubino scored when Ryann Allar reached on an error with two outs again to grow the lead to 5-1. Rubino had reached on a fielder's choice when she hit a sharp grounder up the middle that Compton dove for at shortstop and slid across second base to retire Reese Todaro. To make matters more difficult for Brunswick, the bats started slowly once again. Eight of the first nine batters were retired before Gabbie Diamond laced a single up the middle with two outs in the third. Medina pitcher Brooke Housum was steady, especially in the first four innings, when she scattered three hits without allowing a run. She finished her complete game allowing four earned runs on 10 hits with one walk and one strikeout. Two innings later, Diamond put the Blue Devils on the board with double to right field that scored pinch runner Makayla Moore, who entered after Lilly Leichliter doubled. "Early in the game, we weren't necessarily sure what pitching we would see," Diamond said. "We've been dealing with fast pitching lately, so the off-speed has kind of gotten to us. "We were just hitting it right to them in the beginning. Once we got the hang of it, we got to break through." That breakthrough gave Brunswick the chance to tie in the next inning. Compton, Flanigan, Kaelyn Stolarski and pinch hitter Brooke Soworowski singled to begin the sixth, and Leichliter and Sophia Trush drove in runs on outs before Housum forced Diamond to fly out to Rubino. Medina entered on a 10-inning scoreless streak after five-inning losses to Walsh Jesuit (12-0) and Buckeye (11-0). The Bees quickly put the drought to rest, as Rubino and Bailey McCoy started the game with back-to-back base hits before Rubino scored on a sacrifice fly by Kelsey Swinko to take a 1-0 lead. "Our hitting was on point," McCoy said. "It's very important (to start fast). With our energy off the bat, we just got hits and it just keeps rolling from batter to batter." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Medina 5, Brunswick 4 MEDINA 101 201 0 — 5 12 0 BRUNSWICK 000 013 0 — 4 10 3 WP — Brooke Housum (10-3) 7 innings, walk, strikeout. LP — Gabby Diigente (3-4) 7 innings, walk, 8 strikeouts. Medina (11-4, 4-1) — Katie Rubino single, 2 runs; Bailey McCoy 3 singles, run; Housum 2 singles, RBI; Hannah Neal 3 singles, run. Brunswick (10-8, 1-3) — Gabbie Diamond single, double, RBI; Madison Miller double; Kaelyn Stolarski 2 singles, run; Lilly Leichliter double.