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Coldwater's Dana Zahn, left, just beats the tag of Celina's Hayley Germann during Monday's non-conference softball game at Coldwater Memorial Park. The Bulldogs defeated the Cavaliers 7-1 to pick up their 10th win of the season.
COLDWATER - Celina spotted Coldwater the first run of the game, and then Lily Gonzalez took control in the pitching circle.
Gonzalez struck out eight and scattered six hits as Celina plated two runs in the top of the second and four in the third en route to picking up a 7-1 Mercer County softball win over the Cavaliers at Memorial Park.
Gonzalez allowed two hits in the bottom of the first. Dana Zahn led off with a single. After a sacrifice bunt and fly out to center, Riley Eales stepped in. It appeared the inning would end on a foul pop, but the ball was dropped. Eales took advantage and singled to score.
After that, Gonzalez was in charge. The sophomore left-hander allowed just five more hits, four being singles, and did not walk a batter in earning her second win of the season.
Lily Gonzalez pitched a complete game six-hitter with eight strikeouts for Celina.
"Lily always shows up in the circle," said Celina coach Renee Williams. "She's a competitor and wants to do the little things. Proud of the defense standing behind her."
"We couldn't string anything together," said Coldwater coach Kyle Ahrens. "Just a couple hits here and there. It's hard if you can't string 3-4 hits together."
Coldwater got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the top of the first, but in the second Paiton Rhodes led off for Celina with a single. After a sacrifice bunt, and a strikeout, Brooke Faber blooped a single to right to bring home the tying run. Campbelle Gass followed with a double to bring home Faber for the go-ahead run.
The Bulldogs got four more runs off Cav starter Alivia Klingshirn in the third. Rhodes flew out to left, allowing Colbie Kinney to tag up from third and score. After an out, Hayley Germann was hit by a pitch, Alexis Siefring followed with a single to score Gonzalez, then Faber laced a double down the left field line to plate Germann and Siefring.
The Celina bats quieted down after the third as Harlow Heyne came on in relief of Klingshirn. The Cavaliers avoided a jam in the fourth when Maddie Allen was caught between third base and home and tagged out after a run down. Coldwater ended the fifth with a lineout double play after a great snag by shortstop Hailey Stough. The Bulldogs got a run in the sixth when Gass scored on a dropped third strike. In the seventh, Celina had three hits, two being doubles, but came up with no runs after a great throw got Rhodes trying to stretch a double into a triple, and later Avery Knapke gunned down Avery Stachler at home plate trying to score
"I think we played pretty good defensively, but what hurt us was not getting the third out right away," said Ahrens. "Celina had quite a few runs with two outs. If we got that third out right away, it would have put us in a different positions."
"(Coldwater) made some great plays," said Williams. "Had some baserunning errors on our part, but we were putting the ball into play and doing the little things."
Gass, Faber and Stachler each had two hits for Celina. Harlow Heyne had two of the six Coldwater hits.
Both teams are in league play today. Celina (10-3) hosts fellow Western Buckeye League co-leader Elida while Coldwater (4-12) hosts Parkway.
