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Parkway's Adria Miller (5) applies the tag on Coldwater's Dana Zahn at third base during Thursday's MAC softball game at Lady Cav Diamond. The Panthers defeated the Cavaliers 9-3.
COLDWATER - Parkway softball coach Trey Stover wasn't going to let Coldwater's Madison Wendel and Claire Steinke beat them on Thursday night.
Turned out, the Cavaliers' defense was their own worst enemy.
Coldwater committed eight errors, resulting in five unearned runs as the Panthers rolled to a 9-3 victory in Midwest Athletic Conference action at Lady Cav Diamond.
"We were bad defensively and did not take advantage of what Parkway gave us with baserunners," said Coldwater coach Kyle Ahrens. "We're not going to win games playing like that."
Parkway pitcher Meg Henkle walked seven batters in the contest, but four of them were a pair of intentional walks each to Wendel, who came into the game batting .588 with five home runs on the season, and Steinke, who's batting .308 with RBI. Henkle also struck out seven and allowed just three hits.
"We have a lot of respect for Madison and Claire," said Stover, whose squad improves to 10-2 and 3-1 in the MAC. "We just weren't going to let them beat us tonight."
Wendel and Steinke were a combined 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Coldwater's Jordan Hemmelgarn (10) stretches to make the out on Parkway's Maddie Jacobs.
Parkway scored its first run in the second. After Wendel struck out Adria Miller, Avery White reached on an error. Maddie Jacobs bunted and reached on a single as White went to third, and the throw down was off the mark, allowing White to score the opening run. The second run came in the third as Madison Louth hit a one-out double and came home when Henkle reached on an error.
Coldwater got a run back in the bottom of the third after Riley Eales walked and Avery Knapke bunted her to second. Stover promptly walked Wendel and Steinke to load the bases for Jordan Hemmelgarn, who hit a grounder. The throw for the force at home was dropped to allow Eales to score, but Henkle got out of the jam without further damage.
The Panthers put the game away in the fifth as Brittyn Bruns and Louth singled and Henkle walked to load the bases. Paige Stephenson followed with a single to score Bruns to make it 3-1. Miller hit a double that scored two runs, with Stephenson coming home on an error and Miller going to third, where White's grounder to first brought her home to make it 7-1.
Parkway's Paige Stephenson (4) throws to first after forcing out Coldwater's Rachel Schroyer.
"Offensively, we've been telling them to put the ball in play and make things happen," said Stover. "We knew we had a great pitcher we were going against tonight (Wendel, who struck out six and walked one in taking the loss). We've been focused on putting it into play and seeing what happens."
Errors brought home the final two runs in the sixth as Bruns scored when Louth's grounder to third was misplayed. Louth later scored on a force-out at second.
Meanwhile, Henkle and the Panthers were rolling. Parkway turned a double play in the second to get out of one jam and kept the Cavaliers off the basepaths. Coldwater added two runs in the bottom of the seventh as Steinke got an RBI fielder's choice and Hemmelgarn grounded to short to allow Avery Knapke to score, but Henkle got her seventh strikeout of the night by getting Kendra Clune to look at strike three to end the game.
"Tip your hat to (Parkway). They played great defense," said Ahrens. "Meg threw well for them."
Parkway will be at the Fort Loramie Invitational on Saturday while Coldwater will try to bounce back today at Lima Central Catholic.
