Canton got right back in the game in the top of the fourth. With one out, Lauren Leskovitz and Smith were safe on back-to-back errors - two of six the Wildcats made in the game. Jordan Puskar beat out a bunt to load the bases. Leskovitz and Smith scored on Jesse Larner’s two-run single. The Chiefs might have tied the score, but Plymouth first baseman Tessa Heldmeyer scooped a throw from Klonowski out of the dirt for the third out of the inning.
Canfield said she wouldn’t have believed her team could win a game in which they played such poor defense.
“I think it was just nerves,” the coach said. “We were a little too anxious defensively. (But) our offense came into play, and our pitching kept us in there.”
Ironically, in a game where the Wildcats made six errors, it was a pair of stellar defensive plays that clinched the game. Canton’s Christy VanEsley was safe on an error leading off the sixth. Puskar was also safe when her grounder to third was thrown away by Plymouth’s Burnard, putting runners at second and third with no outs.
Larner ripped a grounder to Burnard, who caught VanEsley too far off third and tagged her out. The next hitter, Samantha Partain, then lined out to Beth Heldmeyer, who flipped it to her sister, Tessa, to double Larner off of first.
Canton’s last chance came in the sixth when Amy Dunleavy singled, then scampered to second when the ball skipped past center fielder Jillian Brennan. But Smith settled down and got the final two outs to preserve the win.
“(The sixth inning) was huge,” Canton coach Jim Arnold said. “We had that pick at third, then the doubled play. It took us right out of the game.”
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