PLAY AT THE PLATE — Madonna’s Ally Laughlin slides into home plate while Catholic Central pitcher Alexis Lathem attempts to apply a tag on the play during Monday’s game. Laughlin was ruled safe. - Andrew Grimm

They also knew they had a couple freshmen joining the mix that were cause for added optimism. 

One of those ninth graders was Peyton Conley, who gave the team a second pitcher in addition to junior workhorse Kendall Ryan.

Monday evening, Conley showed her bat is able to make contributions, too. 

Getting her second start in three games in the circle against Catholic Central, the youthful pitcher bounced back from a tough first outing in the rain at Oak Glen on opening day last week by tossing three scoreless innings and striking out six batters. 

BASE HIT — Catholic Central senior Taylor Ensminger connects with a pitch for a single during Monday’s game against Madonna at Starvaggi Park. - Andrew Grimm

At the plate, though, her impact was even more pronounced as she went 4 for 4 and drove in four runs in what ended up being an 18-0 Blue Dons victory at home at Starvaggi Park. 

“She really settled in and found her strike zone and did an outstanding job with her control,” Madonna assistant coach Rodney Boniti said. “She had a big day with the bat, too.”

On the season, the freshman has six RBIs through the first three games of her high school career and has started the season 7 for 11 (.636) at the plate. She had a double, triple and two RBIs in her debut at Oak Glen. 

The Blue Dons as a whole have their bats going early in the young season, scoring at least six runs in all three games, averaging 10.3 runs per game in that span.

Also in the win against the Crusaders, Madi Owens had an inside-the-park three-run homer, Rylee Birkhimer had a double, single and two RBIs and Ally Laughlin tripled in a run. 

LINING IT UP — Madonna’s Peyton Conley squares up a pitch for one of her four hits during Monday’s game. - Andrew Grimm

“The girls did a lot of offseason work in the cages,” Boniti said. “They tried to refine their swings. They put a lot of work in and it’s starting to show. They are swinging the bats and putting a lot of balls in play, and everyone knows when you put balls in play, good things tend to happen.

“They’re getting base runners on and moving girls around and that’s a big thing.”

They’ve cleaned things up in the field, too. After seven errors were their undoing in the loss to the Golden Bears on opening day, they’ve committed just one in the next two games combined, both wins. 

Ryan had a 10 strikeout performance against Magnolia on Saturday as well.

BACK ON THE FIELD

Monday’s game was the second game back on the field for the revived Crusaders softball program after a two season hiatus. 

While it is a work in progress off to an 0-2 start, as is expected with a cast of new players, coach Donald Brown is optimistic about not only the rest of this season, but beyond. 

“We knew there were going to be some growing pains,” Brown said. “We’ve only been practicing for about a month, and being out on the field in a game is a lot different so it’s been good to get the girls out on the field. Once we get established a little more I think we’ll be fine. They’ll come along as the season goes on.

“For us right now its about getting out there and getting better as we go.”

The Crusaders had two runners on twice, Taylor Ensminger, the lone senior of the group, providing a base hit while they drew three walks, but Conley prevented them from doing any damage on the scoreboard.  

Central was only down 3-0 with two outs in the bottom of the first, but the Blue Dons broke things open before they could get the third.

Central did plate five runs in its season debut Saturday at East Liverpool. 

“It’s a young group, we have a lot of young players, only one senior on the team, and some of these girls had never played before,” Brown said. “We have a lot of young girls that will hopefully not only keep getting better this year, but be back next year and beyond and continue to improve.

“We had some base runners on, we did a little better Saturday, but I told them to keep their heads up throughout the whole game and they did, they were still into the game and didn’t get down on themselves.”

Madonna 18, Catholic Central 0

CC 0-0-0 – 0 1 1 

M 13-5-x – 18 13 0 

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (0-2): Lathem (LP, 2IP, 18R, 13H, 1K, 8BB) and M. Fink. Ensmiger S. 

MADONNA (2-1): Conley (WP, 3IP, 0R, 1H, 6K, 3BB) and Orecchio. Conley 4S, 4RBI; Owens HR, 3RBI; Laughlin T, RBI; R. Birkhimer D, S, 2RBI; Orechio S; Ryan 2S; G. Birkhimer RBI; Gamble S, RBI; Littleton S, RBI; Sczerbinski 2RBI.