Pitchers' duel

ST. MARYS - On a picture-perfect day for softball, Coldwater's Maddie Steinke and St. Marys' Rylee Burd engaged in a classic pitchers' duel.

Burd pitched a whale of a game, but Steinke was nearly perfect.

Steinke took a perfect game into the fifth inning and lost a no-hitter with two outs in the seventh as Coldwater edged St. Marys 2-1 at K.C. Geiger Park on Monday afternoon.

Both pitchers came up with solid outings, but two runs, both scored by Maura Hoying, proved to be the difference.

"Both pitchers threw a really good game," Coldwater coach Katie Berno said. "Maddie pitched a great game. No walks tonight. We said from the get-go she's a great little pitcher. Great time to throw the ball well."

Steinke, the talented lefty, struck out five of the first 12 batters she retired in order. The Roughriders were unable to get the ball out of the infield throughout the game as they popped up the ball six times in the game.

"I would say my curve was working," said Steinke, who struck out nine batters. "I warmed up good and moved my pitches around. I felt confident."

The senior Burd had plenty of help from her defense as she walked five batters in the game, but only one scored as Coldwater stranded six on base. Leanne Klenke broke up Burd's no-hitter with a bloop single over third base in the bottom of the third but was later thrown out at home trying to score.  

"I had a couple days off," said Burd, who struck out eight. "I had a positive attitude. My fastball was pretty solid."

The Cavaliers finally scored in the fourth as Hoying reached base on a single. One out later, Grace Bruns reached on an infield single and Hoying moved to third on a throwing error. Molly Steinke grounded out to third and scored Hoying for the first Cav run.

St. Marys quickly rebounded as Taylor Shimp was the first Rider to reach base via a throwing error that allowed Shimp to go to second. After Lexi Fowler successfully sacrificed the runner over, Alyssa Alexander grounded to short, allowing Shimp to tie the game.

In the sixth, Hoying drew her second walk of the game after having fouled off five pitches to stay alive to start the inning. Maddie Steinke bunted Hoying to second, After a strikeout and a wild pitch to move Hoying to third, Molly Steinke singled to left to score Hoying for the go-ahead.

"We didn't do a good job attacking the strikes when we had the opportunity," Berno said. "We can't watch the first strike. (Burd) moved the ball around on us."

After retiring the side in order in the sixth, Maddie Steinke started the seventh by striking out Abbi Chorvas and getting Burd to pop out to Madissen Gesslin at short. Shimp stepped into the box and hit a weak grounder into No Man's Land between second, first and the pitching circle, beating the throw to end the no-hitter. Maddie Steinke wasted no time to entice Fowler to pop out to Grace Bruns at first to end the game.

"That was fun to watch," St. Marys coach Kendra Solomon said. "It was more a battle between pitchers than it has been this season. We told the girls that in the WBL, it's who hits the ball the hardest. It was different."

Both teams are in league play today. Coldwater travels to Versailles for a MAC contest while St. Marys hosts Celina in WBL play.