photo by: Kim North

John Marshall center fielder Tessa Dougherty catches a fly ball in front of right fielder Ella Finley during the fifth inning of Monday’s game against Wheeling Park. The Monarchs moved to 4-0 with a 1-0 victory.

WHEELING – Despite the wind-chill dipping under the freezing mark and sleet being blown around by gusty winds, John Marshall remained red-hot in high school softball action. The Monarchs (4-0) used solid pitching, a lucky bounce and some outstanding defense in shutting down homestanding Wheeling Park, 1-0, Monday afternoon high atop the Friendly City.

“Runs were hard to come by today. Hits were hard to come by and everybody was miserable, but we’re 4-0,” John Marshall head coach Rob Blake said. “We grinded it out. We found a way to win.”

John Marshall ended the contest with its fourth web gem of the game when Mikaylah Alderman was thrown out at first by right fielder Ella Finley on a bang-bang play.

“She came up throwing. She has a cannon, so it didn’t surprise me,” Blake advised of Finley. “She charged the ball and made a really strong throw.”

The Monarchs’ Lily Dijkstra did a little bit of everything as she went the distance inside the circle, accounted for the game’s lone run and came up with a clutch defensive play to end the Patriots’ sixth-inning rally.

“We had our chances. We had the bases loaded and our best hitters up in the sixth, but we just couldn’t get the clutch hit when we needed it.”

Dijkstra struck out five, walked a pair and yielded a trio of singles in her route-going performance. She needed 91 pitches, of which 48 were strikes. She threw a first-pitch strike to 15 of the 26 Wheeling Park batters she faced.

“I thought she pitched very well for the conditions,” Blake said. “It wasn’t fun for either team, but we grinded it out.”

With two outs in the top of the fifth of a scoreless game, Dijkstra sent a single to right that got past the right fielder and rolled and rolled on the artificial surface. Utilizing her blazing speed, Blake didn’t hesitate in sending Dijkstra around third.

“She can fly. I was sending her all the way,” Blake said. “The play was right in front of me and I thought here’s our chance.”

“That was a very tough play,” Durkin said of Dijkstra’s hit. “Our fielder came hard for it. If she catches it, it’s a great play, but it got by her and rolled to the corner.”

John Marshall center fielder Tessa Dougherty made a huge running catch in right-center of Grace Tamburin’s fly ball to start the bottom of the fifth. Harmony Bittner followed with a sharp single through the hole at short for Wheeling Park’s first runner of the game. Alivia West followed with a four-pitch walk before a fielder’s choice erased Bittner at third. A comebacker to Dijkstra and her throw to first ended the threat.

The Patriots (2-2) threatened again in the bottom of the sixth, only to see Dijkstra do her best impression of Houdini in escaping unharmed. London Fankhouser led off with a single to left and was replaced by pinch-runner Jozy Paree. Abby O’Donnell bunted Paree to second and Brenna Tipton legged out a roller to short. With the count 1-0 on Kylah Cunningham, Blake opted to intentionally walk her to load the bases. The strategy paid off when Tamburin bounced to Kaylee White at short. Her throw home to catcher Masyn Inclan forced out Paree. Bittner’s topper down the third base line was fielded by Dijkstra and, because her momentum was taking her away from first, she flipped the ball to Inclan just in time to beat Tipton for the final out.

“I thought both pitchers pitched well for the conditions,” Durkin said. ”

Earlier in the game, Dougherty ran to right-center once again before snagging a drive off the bat of Alderman in front of a sliding Finley.

“Tessa made a couple of great catches out there,” Blake recalled. “She’s a really good centerfielder.”

Bittner pitched well in her own right, striking out four, issuing a like number of free passes and permitting just three singles. She threw 111 pitches, with 63 going for strikes.

Inclan and Nora Shock both clubbed doubles for John Marshall, which travels to Morgantown Tuesday to face University.

Wheeling Park travels to Steubenville on Tuesday.

John Marshall 1, Wheeling Park 0

J. Marshall 000 010 0 – 1 3 0

Wheeling P. 000 000 0 – 0 3 2

JM-Dijkstra wp (5K, 2BB) and Inclan; Inclan D; Shock D; Dijkstra HR, rbi

WP-Bittner lp (4K, 4BB) and Cunningham