Monessen upends Lady Rockets in extra innings
Holly Tonini
Camryn Dugan speaks in honor of her father during the dedication ceremony naming the the Lady Rockets鈥� softball field 鈥淐hris Dugan Memorial Field鈥� Wednesday at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Holly Tonini
Monessen鈥檚 Dana Vatakis avoids the tag of Jefferson-Morgan catcher Kayla Yorko to score a run to tie the game in Wednesday鈥檚 non-section game at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Jefferson-Morgan's Camryn Dugan pitched four hitless innings against Monessen early in Wednesday's non-section game at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Morgan Simkovic is safe at home before Monessen鈥檚 Carly Rock can apply the tag during their game on March 30 at Jefferson-Morgan High School. Greene County baseball and softball teams have been scoring runs at a high rate so far during the 2016 season. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan athletic director Scott Moore (far left), Principal Joe Orr (middle), and Assistant Principal Brandon Robinson hold their hands in honor on the new sign dedicating the grounds to Chris Dugan, the Jefferson-Morgan softball coach who passed away from cancer last year. After losing their first two games since the renaming of the field, the Lady Rockets picked up a pair of wins there on Wednesday with a doubleheader sweep of Avella. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
JEFFERSON 鈥� Monessen rallied from a four-run deficit and spoiled the first game of the defending Class A champion Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 season Wednesday afternoon with a 5-4 victory in non-section action.
Earlier in the day, Jefferson-Morgan had a field dedication ceremony in honor of assistant coach Chris Dugan, who passed away last season during the Lady Rockets鈥� playoff run.
With plenty of fans wearing their blue Team Dugan T-shirts, the J-M softball field will officially be called the 鈥淐hris Dugan Memorial Field鈥� from now on.
鈥淭his was a great day for J-M softball and we just wanted to make sure we didn鈥檛 forget about Chris,鈥� J-M coach Tony Barbetta said. 鈥淗e was a great coach, a great teacher, a great dad and a great friend. The girls were pretty focused, but give Monessen a lot of credit. We just couldn鈥檛 get those final six outs to close out the game.鈥�
Trailing 4-0, the Lady Greyhounds (2-1) posted four runs to tie the game courtesy of a two-run double by Dana Vatakis and a two-run single by Shelby Minardi.
鈥淲e had to wait for our pitch, but yet be aggressive early in the count,鈥� Monessen coach Bo Teets said. 鈥淚n that sixth inning we put the bat on the ball. I鈥檓 never a big fan of changing your approach during the middle of the game, so we just continued to battle at the plate.鈥�
After a scoreless seventh, Monessen took its first lead of the game when Mattie Telegraphis had a one-out single, advanced to third on an infield error and scored off of a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt by Tori Cooper.
鈥淭his young team has a lot of resiliency and all of these one-run games are not good for my blood pressure,鈥� Teets said. 鈥淲e executed late in the game. Jefferson is an excellent team and this is a great win. We kept our errors down and got those timely hits.鈥�
In the bottom of the eighth, Morgan Simkovic led off the inning with a single for the Lady Rockets (0-1), but was left stranded at third base when Vatakis recorded a strikeout and ground out to end the contest.
Vatakis, who pitched 10 innings on Tuesday against Brownsville, picked up the win in relief with three solid innings of one-hit ball, with five strikeouts and no walks. Minardi started the game and threw five innings with four strikeouts and no walks.
鈥淲e wanted to start Shelby today and give Dana some rest,鈥� Teets said. 鈥淏oth are very good pitchers and we wanted to give them both time in the circle. Once we tied it, I wanted to throw Dana out there and give them a change in velocity.鈥�
After giving a heartfelt speech in the field dedication ceremony, Chris Dugan鈥檚 oldest daughter Camryn laced the first hit at the Chris Dugan Memorial Field with a lead-off double in the first.
Dugan scored on an RBI single by Simkovic later in the inning and J-M made it 2-0 after a Brooke Diamond RBI double.
The Lady Rockets increased their lead to 4-0 after Diamond hammered a two-out, two-run double in the third.
鈥淭he change in pitchers was the key factor in the game,鈥� Barbetta said. 鈥淪he throws a lot harder and we were chasing some high pitches. I think she is one of the better pitchers in Class A. We had a chance in the game, but we made some mistakes in the field and couldn鈥檛 put together hits.鈥�
Dugan suffered the loss with two strikeouts and a walk over eight innings.
Monessen, who has played in three straight one-run games to start the year, will continue their non-section schedule on Friday at home versus Chartiers-Houston, while J-M hosts non-section rival Carmichaels on Friday.