'That was awesome': Ashland rallies to beat Richmond Edison at MVD tourney for first win
ASHLAND — For the reigning Ohio Cardinal Conference champion, Ashland has had a rough go of it to start the season.
Losing a lot of key players from last year's team and featuring a younger squad, the Arrows have had to tackle a tough opening stretch. Facing OCC contender Mt. Vernon and New Philadelphia, they stumbled out of the gate, going 0-3.
Still Arrows held their own and entered the opening game of the MVD Tournament Friday at Brookside Park like a team on the cusp of putting it all together. And they did exactly that in a 10-6 win over Richmond Edison for their first victory of the season.
"I was very happy because we've had a rough first couple of games with some tough teams," said Ashland coach Mindy Fryman Baker. "To see the girls all come together and for us to put it together in all three phases of the game — defensively, pitching and hitting — that was awesome."
The Arrows fell behind 2-0 early but showed the winning moxie in the home half of the first inning as Miley Baker singled back up the middle to score Natalie Atkins to slice it in half. Two outs later, Kate Aber delivered a two-out, two-run hit to give Ashland a 3-2 lead.
After the Wildcats responded with four runs in the second inning for a 6-3 lead, the Arrows began to chip away at the deficit in the third when Ohio State University-bound Hailey Lang roped a double to right field and scored on Isla McFrederick's one-out double.
Lang then went back to work in the fourth when she smacked a two-run single to plate Makaree Chapman and Atkins to even the score 6-6. McFrederick and Lang then combined to put the Arrows on top 7-6, with the former slapping an RBI hit to score the latter.
The Arrows never trailed again.
"Our ability to respond, that was very important," said Fryman Baker. "We definitely need to win each inning, and we did in that first inning. Then we got down a little bit, but it was so great to see that girls keep fighting and work together to get it done."
Keagan Slater scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-6, and Ashland wrapped up the scoring in the sixth when Madison Hoffman turned on an 0-2 pitch and blasted a two-run home run for the final score.
That was all Slater needed in the circle. Coming in on relief, she pitched a two-hit shutout with three strikeouts over five innings to notch the victory.
"She is a younger pitcher that has really not had any experience yet," said Fryman Baker. "It was awesome to see her come in and have that confidence. Keagan (Slater) was solid tonight and really pitched well."
For the Arrows, it was an afternoon when everything seemed to come together as planned by Fryman Baker, her staff and her team. Just as big as Slater's performance was the Arrows' ability to string hits together.
"That's the kind of the one of things we've struggled with," said Ashland's skipper. "We get the hits, just not collectively. So to be able to do that was important."
The Arrows will look to keep that momentum rolling Saturday when they play Shelby and Norwayne to close out the MVD Tournament.
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Hailey Lang helps lead Ashland to victory at MVD softball tournament
