Clifton Central softball scores 9-2 win over Gardner-South Wilmington

SOUTH WILMINGTON − After falling behind 2-0 early in Monday’s River Valley Conference clash with Gardner-South Wilmington, the Clifton Central softball team rattled off nine unanswered runs, six in the third inning, to pick up a win on the road.

It was the Comets’ fourth win in a row overall and seventh straight win to begin conference play. They improved to 12-6 overall. The Panthers fell to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the RVC, with their other two conference losses coming to unbeaten Beecher.

Gardner-South Wilmington jumped on Central starter Emily Ponton early, with a leadoff single from Nina Siano and back-to-back, one-out triples from Ella Mack and Kayla Scheuber putting the Panthers up 2-0 four batters into the game.

Ponton did not allow any more damage in the first and settled in after that, allowing just three singles and a walk over the final six innings of a complete game effort. She had five strikeouts in the game as the Comet defense recording the other 16 outs without committing an error.

“It felt really good knowing that my team had my back,” Ponton said. “I could throw any pitch to get outs and I knew they had my back, so it was very easy to throw strikes.”

Ponton has come on strong as a freshman this season. She has been splitting the pitching duties with senior Sydney Jemar and lowered her season ERA to 4.09 on the season with Tuesday’s outing. She is also fourth on the team in OPS.

Central head coach Kelli Wielgus said Ponton has done a good job establishing herself in the circle, at the plate and in the field in her first high school season.

“She’s settled in pretty well,” Wielgus said. “She’s been a big at bat for us and in center field she takes control like most freshmen don’t on the field. She communicates well and she’s coming along great.”

Offensively, Central’s third-inning rally provided more than enough run support for Ponton. After an RBI single from Anna Winkel in the second inning cut the deficit to 2-1, Lia Prairie reached on an error with one out in the third to get things rolling. The next five hitters singled for the Comets to push across five runs. After a strikeout, Winkel reached on an error that allowed the inning’s sixth run to cross the plate.

Some defensive indecision from Gardner-South Wilmington, in addition to the two errors, allowed Central to take several extra bases. The Comets were able to cause confusion with a couple of rundowns in the third and also took advantage of a missed cutoff throw.

Head coach Amber Eisha said that the team knew Central was a team that will push things on the bases, which caused the uncharacteristic defensive struggles to lead to more damage.

“Defensively it was probably our biggest struggle we’ve seen all year,” Eisha said. “We usually do have a pretty solid defense. It was those mental lapses, with a team that will run, those little mental lapses like that are what hurt us.”

Wielgus said that the team always wants to generate some offense through their base running, especially when they are able to get lots of runners on during a game. With 15 hits, a pair of walks and three hit batters, there were plenty of chances to run wild Tuesday.

“Once we get our bats going we’re always aggressive on the basepaths,” she said. “We always run and try to make them push the ball and throw, to get an overthrow or have them make a mistake.”

Central added one more run in the fourth inning on an RBI single from Keira Donnelly and a final run in the fifth on an inside-the-park home run from Prairie. Winkel, Prairie, Donnelly, Rayven Perkins, Mia Koch-Perzee, Ella Ponton and Blair Bottorff all had two hits apiece.

Scheuber had half of the Panthers’ hits, going 3 for 3 with a triple and two singles. Siano was 1 for 2 with a walk and a run, Mack was 1 for 3 with a triple and a run and Jo Male was 1 for 3. Male also pitched all seven innings, recording seven strikeouts.