RICHMOND - The Edison softball team jumped on visiting Big Red early Wednesday, and pitcher Zoe Westfall allowed three hits as the Wildcats secured a 10-0 five-inning win. Westfall struck out five and walked none.
Kristin Prokopakis got the home team started with a lead-off double and was moved to third when Caitlyn Brenstuhl grounded out to Big Red pitcher Anna Perrino. Prokopakis was brought home on a Trisha Trifonoff sacrifice fly.
One swing of Kayla Prokopakis' bat made it 2-0 when she hit a two-out solo home run.
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GONE — Edison’s Natalie Snyder blasts a second inning home run in front of Steubenville Big Red catcher Mytia Barker during the Wildcats’ 10-0 five-inning win over Big Red Wednesday in Richmond.
-- Mike Mathison
"What I liked about the first inning was our lead off batter got on, the number two batter moved her over, and then we got the sac fly to bring her in," said Edison head coach Spencer Bendle. "That's how you manufacture runs. It's important Kristin get on base for us, we move her over, and we come up with the hit to score her. That's important to us.
"In the game of softball, when you get in good, competitive play it's going to come down to manufacturing a couple runs here and there.
"That's what was nice about the start to tonight."
Edison came up even bigger in the second inning as seven runs crossed home plate. The first run scored on a Natalie Snyder round tripper and the seventh run came when she returned to bat a second time and drove in Molly McCoy with a single.
Sandwiched between the two Snyder RBI were a Kristin Prokopakis RBI triple, an unearned run, a Trifonoff RBI single and a McCoy double that drove in two runs.
"We struggled a little bit on defense," said Big Red head coach Dave Ziarko. "We're just not getting consistent effort on defense and we're allowing teams to get extra bases on us they shouldn't be getting. Anna struggled a little bit with her locations and Edison is a good hitting team. They're going to hit the ball. We just need more consistent play.
"We're learning game by game."
Snyder drove in her third run of the game in the fourth on a single that plated Kayla Prokopakis and set the score at 10-0.
Even when Big Red looked as though it might find some success against Westfall, the Edison defense was there to stifle its attempts.
In the top of the fourth, Sierra Fields hit a rope to right field and looked as if she had a double, but Brenstuhl, the right fielder, threw a laser to second to put Fields out and shut down a potential rally before it started.
"The girl had a nice shot to the gap in right-center," said Bendle. "I don't think our right fielder made a very good play on the ball to begin with, but she made up for it by making the throw to second base to get the out there."
Big Red was in position to try to lengthen the game with runners at second and third with two out in the top of the fifth. Catcher Kristin Prokopakis caught the Big Red base runner a little too far of third and threw to third baseman Kayla Prokopakis who applied the tag for the game-ending out.
"Kristin is always heads up behind the plate," said Bendle. "You always have to be careful when she's catching. She has a very strong arm and she's very aggressive back there so she tends to do that from time to time."
Both teams take to the diamond today with Edison (8-4) hosting Cardinal Mooney and Big Red traveling to Weir.
Edison 10, Big Red 0
Big Red 000 00 - 0 3 2
Edison 270 1x - 10 9 1
BIG RED (2-12): Perrino (LP, 2K, 2BB) and Barker. Fields S; Biasi S; Marker S.
EDISON (8-4): Westfall (WP, 5K, 0BB) and Kr. Prokopakis. Kr. Prokopakis D, T, RBI, 2R; Brenstuhl R; Trifonoff S, 2RBI, R; Ka Prokopakis HR, S, RBI, 3R; McCoy D, 2RBI, R; Snyder HR, 2S, 3RBI, R; Dellapenna R.
