High school softball: Mentor's Syd Cahill shuts down Medina

MEDINA — The Medina softball team entered Monday looking to add some drama to the Greater Cleveland Conference race, but Mentor closed the book on another championship season with an 8-0 victory. The combination of Maddie Beam-Jones and Sophia Smalley caused big problems for the Bees (14-6, 6-2) by going 7-for-8 with two doubles, one home run, five runs and five RBIs. On the other side of the coin, Syd Cahill was effectively wild for the Cardinals (15-7, 9-0) in forcing Medina into one of its worst offensive performances of the season. The Bees were shut out for only the third time (11-0 vs. Buckeye, 12-0 vs. Walsh Jesuit). Cahill also walked five and struck out three while throwing only 63 of 116 pitches for strikes. "I will give her credit. She's a great pitcher," Medina senior Ryann Allar said. "She's nothing we haven't seen before. We just needed to make a few adjustments, and we had some hard hit balls that just didn't land our way. "When those land our way, I believe we will come back and win games like this." Allar had one of those in the seventh inning on a rocket right at third baseman Ireland Rainey, who snagged it to deprive the Bees' slugger of her third hit. Allar broke up a no-hitter with two outs in the third inning with a single to left field. She also singled to right in the fifth. Medina's other base hits came from Olivia Hendrickson and Bailey McCoy, who laced balls up the middle in the fourth and seventh innings. Hendrickson, who also walked, nearly had a second hit with a rope to center field, but Aubree Colon threw to second to force out Hannah Neal in the sixth. "(Cahill) had some really good pitches," Hendrickson said. "She had a good consistent rotation between what she would throw. It was difficult for us to stay on it." Mentor put the Bees under pressure from the start when Beam-Jones had a two-out single in the first and Smalley followed with a double to center that scored Peyton Willis and Beam-Jones. When Smalley went to third on the throw home, the throw back to third sailed into left field and Smalley scored for a 3-0 lead. Beam-Jones led off the fourth with a double and Smalley drove her in to expand the lead to 4-0. Beam-Jones drove in Willis the next inning with Mentor's third hit of the frame for a 5-0 lead. The Cardinals removed all doubt with a three-run seventh that began with a solo home run to left by Beam-Jones. Smalley and Kathryn Bouffard followed with singles before Colon doubled in Smalley and Savannah Nero brought in courtesy runner Jill Lewis with a groundout. "It's really just mental toughness," Hendrickson said. "If there's an error in the field, we need to make sure we all stay up. We have to make sure errors don't pile and our attitudes stay up." Despite few hits, the Bees were able to apply pressure throughout, but each time Cahill worked out of the jam. Medina only needed two hits combined to put runners on second and third with two outs in the second, fourth and fifth innings, but each time Cahill got the play she needed. Medina also had runs on the corners with two out in the sixth. "It just takes our energy and our confidence (to come up with the big hits)," Allar said. "Once we have that confidence, we'll be a great team. I know playoffs are soon and we will be in situations like that. "I know that each of these girls, no matter who's up, I believe in everyone to be able to come up and get the hard hit to get the rally going." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Mentor 8, Medina 0 MENTOR 300 110 3 — 8 14 2 MEDINA 000 000 0 — 0 4 1 WP —Syd Cahill (8-5) 7 innings, 5 walks, 3 strikeouts. LP — Brooke Housum (13-5) 7 innings, 7 earned runs, 2 walks, strikeout. Mentor (15-7, 9-0) — Peyton Willis 2 singles, 2 runs; Maddie Beam-Jones 2 singles, double, home run, 3 runs, 2 RBIs; Sophia Smalley 2 singles double, 2 runs, 3 RBIs; Kathryn Bouffard 2 singles; Aubree Colon single, double, RBI. Medina (14-6, 6-2) — Ryann Allar 2 singles; Hannah Neal 2 walks; Olivia Hendrickson single, walk.