MILLBURY, OH - APRIL 14: Otsego sophomore pitcher Riley Rowe winds up to deliver a pitch during the first inning of a game against Lake on April 14, 2023 at Lake High School in Millbury Ohio. Otsego defeated Lake 4-1. .
MILLBURY — Otsego sophomore pitcher Riley Rowe struck out nine, walked one and held Lake to five hits and one run as the Knights defeated Lake, 4-1, in a key Northern Buckeye Conference softball tilt Friday.
It is Lake’s first league loss as they fall to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the NBC, while Otsego improves to 8-3 and 3-2.
“They are a very solid Lake team — one through nine hit well,” Otsego coach Jason Colyer said.
“We knew this would be a challenge coming in, but all our kids played well. I like that we got contributions from everybody, including kids on our bench today.”
Rowe was trying to hit the corners and mix her pitches up. She threw 90 pitches, including 65 strikes in facing 26 batters.
After allowing three hits in the first inning, she allowed only two hits through the remaining six innings, both doubles by sophomore Diem Isbell.
“(I was trying to hit) mostly outside but working back and forth. I just threw my game,” Rowe said.
Colyer added, “It’s always good to feel like you are playing well on a good day, right? Her pitches were moving, and she did a really nice job of working ahead.
“She was mixing in some off-speed pitches when she needed to, and she allowed our defense to make a lot of easy plays.”
Three of Lake’s hits were by Isbell, who was 3-for-3 with two doubles, a base hit, and she scored the Flyers’ only run on an RBI grounder by Jessie Materni in the third inning.
“Diem had a good day,” Lake coach Dave Rymers said. “I think that had more to do with their pitcher. I don’t remember too many counts where she was behind in the count.
“She started us off with strikes and got ahead of us and then we are battling to just try to foul something off. She pitched phenomenal tonight.
“We had limited chances, but I thought Otsego did a really good job of capitalizing on theirs and we just didn’t match them on that.”
Rowe also had the luxury of seeing her team score two runs in the first and another in the second inning to take a quick 3-0 lead. The Knights had nine hits off sophomore pitcher Kali Bedford.
“I think we did a good job of contributing offensively, whether that is moving a runner or finding some ways to get extra base hits, move them around with the short game,” Colyer said.
On top of that, the Knights were also perfect in the field.
“They are a very good team and I think we came out and hit very well and we had strong defense,” Rowe said.
“We had lots of good hits today. We had a freshman (Mackenzie Shirkey) at second base playing today and I’m very proud of her.”
Rowe led Otsego at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI and freshman Janelle Brooks was 2-for-3 with a stolen base and scored twice.
Seniors Kiana Dingledine, Ashton Gregory and Alexis Etchie, sophomore Riley Miller and freshman Kaylynn Euler had base hits, Brooks and Dingledine had one stolen base apiece.
Euler, Miller, and Gregory had one RBI apiece for the Knights. Shirkey hit a sixth inning sacrifice bunt that eventually resulted in a run by Brooks.
Also getting base hits for the Flyers were Materni and Bedford, both infield hits in the first inning. The Flyers had three hits in their first at-bat, but a double play took one of the basepaths and Lake failed to score.
Bedford struck out four and walked one through seven innings, giving up all four earned runs. She threw 81 pitches, including 57 for strikes, while facing 32 batters.
Rymers says his team hopes to rebound when they travel south to face Elmwood in another key NBC contest Monday.
“A league loss is never good but we’re still early,” Rymers said. “We’re 10 (NBC) games out still and we’ve got everybody else still left on our schedule. We’ve got a chance to make some noise here.”
