Colts dump Tygers
BELLVILLE — Driving down Main Street in Bellville, the digital sign attached to a local bank switched from 6:20 p.m. to read 30 degrees on Wednesday night. It wasn’t long before, that across town, members of the Clear Fork softball team and a small cluster of devoted fans were experiencing the wintry weather firsthand.
The Colts played through high winds and sleet, shivering their way to a 15-1 victory over Mansfield Senior in an Ohio Cardinal Conference softball matchup. On Tuesday, Clear Fork shutout the Tygers 22-0, giving them a clean sweep in the series. The Colts now improve to 6-1, 3-1 OCC.
“It’s one of those things that it’s springtime and they know that you are not going to have great days like we did yesterday,” said Clear Fork head coach Jeff Gottfried. “You can’t control it and you have to make the best of situations. We were pretty hard on them mentally in the preseason to be ready for a day like this today and we talked about it before they even came here. They were ready to go.”
There were no spectators sitting on the visitors’ side — just the sounds of the Colts supporters parked beside the first-base line bundled up.
“They are pretty brave souls and I’ve got a great set of parents too. They are supportive of their kids whenever they get a chance and as you can tell with all of the ones out here watching that they do,” said Gottfried.
Lauren Liberti and Jordan Layfield combined to pitch a no-hitter. Liberti stood the mound the first three innings striking out seven, walking six and giving up one run. Layfield ended with one strikeout.
“When we hit the ball, play some good defense and get some good pitching we are a pretty good team,” said Gottfried.
Clear Fork opened up the bats in the bottom of the first, scoring four runs. Rachel Wilson scored in the first run, followed by Ashley Dorner, Rebecca Mottayaw and Liz Bidlack.
“I just think the whole team in general — we have been swinging the bats well from the top to the bottom of the order,” said Gottfried.
The Colts scored five runs apiece in both the second and third inning. Senior only shutout Clear Fork one inning — the bottom of the fourth. The Tygers scored their only run in the top of the fourth. The Tygers’ loss puts them at 0-5, 0-4 OCC this season.
“Mansfield is a team that they are getting better, but it is a team that we should take care of every year. At least right now that is where our program is at and we did a good job doing that this week. I was pleased,” said Gottfried.
Clear Fork travels to Mapleton on Saturday for a doubleheader, weather permitting.
