The Daily Standard
Story Archive
Coldwater's Madison Wendel delivers against Marion Local in Coldwater on Thursday. Wendel struck out 11 without allowing a hit or a walk.
COLDWATER - After Madison Wendel no-hit Midwest Athletic Conference rival Versailles in five innings on Tuesday, Marion Local made her go the distance on Thursday.
Still, for the third time in a week, she didn't allow a hit.
"My body's feeling very good, and me and Claire (Steinke) are just clicking," she said. "She's able to frame the balls and all that, and we're just all on board, ready to tear down the batters."
Marion got only one baserunner, on a fly ball error in the fourth inning, and Coldwater got hits up and down the lineup to support Wendel for an 8-0 MAC softball win.
"She's just locked in," Coldwater coach Kyle Ahrens said. "I've never seen her so locked in and zoned in before. She wants to win and compete at very high level right now."
Wendel was in control from the start, retiring the first nine batters from Marion Local (4-10, 2-4 MAC) in 35 pitches.
The Flyers' one hard-hit ball came at the start of the fourth, when Camryn Swain came up and drove a fly to left field. It was well-hit, but Ava Doll had just about gotten to it when centerfielder Avery Knapke crashed into her as the ball arrived. The ball caromed away and Swain steamed into second.
Marion Local shortstop Hannah Rindler tags out Coldwater's Libby Grieshop stealing as Camryn Swain backs up the play.
Hannah Rindler bunted her over to third, but Wendel struck out Haley Everman and Kalyn Thobe to strand her there. Only three batters in the final three innings put the ball in play.
"We wanted to come in and make the defense work a little bit," Marion coach Mindy Feasel said. "I don't know what she was throwing that caught us off guard, but offensively, we couldn't square up on pretty much anything."
Wendel struck out the first two batters in the seventh inning to bring up Thobe. Thobe laid down a bunt in front of the plate and sped down the line, but the ball spun just barely over the third base line and went foul.
She bunted again on the second pitch, but this time it died in front of the plate and Steinke threw her out.
All told, Wendel threw 91 pitches, 65 for strikes, and threw her first pitch for a strike against 15 of 22 batters.
"I would say (I'd like) a little more control on my spin pitches," she said, "but other than that, we're just chilling."
Meanwhile, Coldwater (8-7, 4-1 MAC) was able to get to Everman early. Wendel led off with a single, went to second on a ground ball back to the circle, and scored when Rachel Schroyer slammed a double to right-center and went to third on the throw.
Avery Knapke walked, and ball four in the dirt got past catcher Kiley Schoenlein, allowing Schroyer to score. Knapke stole second and scored when Everman threw two more wild pitches, making it 3-0, before getting out of the inning.
"We challenged them to score right away like we did Tuesday night against Versailles," Ahrens said. "And we did that, we scored right away in the first. That was a good sign for us."
In the second, Wendel reached on an error and scored on Steinke's home run to right-center.
Coldwater coach Kyle Ahrens congratulates Claire Steinke as she rounds third on a two-run homer in the second inning against Marion Local.
Everman set the Cavaliers down in order in the third and got the first two outs of the fourth, but Wendel reached on an error again and Steinke followed with a single. Rachel Schroyer hit a shallow flare that forced right fielder Natalie Evers to try to make a sliding catch, and it hit off her glove as Wendel and Steinke scored.
Everman left the bases loaded in the fifth, gave up a leadoff double and an RBI single in the sixth, then struck out Doll and Hailey Stough, her 10th and 11th strikeouts of the game, to strand two more runners and keep the game going.
"I think she settled in really well," Feasel said. "But Coldwater put the ball in play, made adjustments and took advantage of the first inning."
Coldwater racked up 11 hits between eight players and stranded eight runners. Steinke went 3-for-4 and Schroyer had two hits.
"We did the same thing on Tuesday, and hopefully this is a good sign for us going forward," Ahrens said. "We've got some big games coming up and tournament coming up, so hopefully we're moving in the right direction with our offense."
Wendel started her current heater last Friday with a no-hitter in a 1-0, walkoff win over Lima Central Catholic. The Cavaliers dropped two games to Tinora and beat Celina before she did it again in a 10-0 win over Versailles.
That run has gotten Coldwater from 4-5 to 8-7 heading into tonight's game at Bradford.
"Keep ahead of everyone, that's the main goal," Wendel said. "We're not a team that usually scores eight-plus runs, but whenever we do, we're going to keep that lead the whole time. That's me, Coach and Claire's job, keep the batters off balance so we're able to stay ahead."
Marion Local gets back in action Saturday with a 1 p.m. start at Fort Loramie.
