photo by: Kim North

Photo by Kim North Wheeling Park second baseman London Fankhouser awaits the ball while covering first Tuesday night in a 11-1 loss at Martins Ferry. She accounted for the only run Wheeling Park scored with a second inning solo homer.

MARTINS FERRY – What a difference a month makes.

On April 7, Wheeling Park handed an undefeated Martins Ferry (10-0) softball team its first loss, 10-4. Fast forward to Tuesday night high atop the Purple City, the Purple Riders (21-3) collected 16 hits – some of the wind-blown variety – in a 11-1 pounding of the Patriots (16-14) on Senior Night.

Martins Ferry was coming off of its second consecutive OVAC Class 3A championship over the weekend, something that had veteran head coach Jerry Magistro a bit worried.

“I told the girls I was a little worried coming into the game because it’s tough to get yourself back up after winning a big game,” Magistro said. “You know what? They came back strong. This was a big win for us against a quality team. Every game matters because we’re getting ourselves ready for the postseason.”

However, it didn’t take long for him to relax as two runs in the bottom of the first was all Monica Tedeschi would need inside the circle. The freshman fanned two, didn’t walk a batter and allowed four singles. She gave up a two-out solo home run to right-center off the bat of London Fankhouser in the second. Tedeschi finished strong, retiring 10 of the final 12 Patriots she faced in throwing 58 pitches, of which 41 were strikes.

“You can’t ask for anything better than that,” Magistro praised Tedeschi’s outing. “She did that against a really good hitting team. She knows how to throw that off-speed and hits her targets.”

Martins Ferry only has two seniors and they had a combined four singles, with Makayla Cole and Kendyl Brandon having two each. Cole scored twice and Brandon recorded an RBI.

“Those two girls have been a big part of our program for all four years,” Magistro said. “I’m glad they had a good game.”

Ohio University commit Giana Chirpas doubled home Cole in the first and scored on a bunt single by Brandon for a 2-0 lead. Chirpas, who finally got to swing the bat after being intentionally walked numerous times this season, finished with two singles and a double that produced two runs.

“When you’re getting walked intentionally all the time, you kind of lose that rhythm. They don’t get to swing the bat as much, so hopefully tonight gets her going. She needed a game like this,” Magistro noted.

Gracie Lucas continued her torrid campaign with a pair of singles, a double and three runs batted in to hike her team-best mark to 42 on the season. Keigan Brandon also had a pair of infield singles.

“Our slappers had some good slaps. I like when they take away our bunts and our slappers can slap it past them,” Magistro said. “That’s a big weapon if it’s done the right way.”

Fankhouser added a single to her home run for the Patriots lone multi-hit outing.

“We’ve been off for a while and it showed,” Wheeling Park head coach Pat Durkin said. “I should’ve done a better job of scheduling to get us a game or two last week. The wind really played a factor with our defense. You could tell they (Martins Ferry) have played here before. They could play in the wind. We couldn’t.”

The Patriots hadn’t played since April 27. The loss ended their regular season with pairings for the W.Va. Class AAAA Region I Tournament to be released as early as Wednesday.

Despite scoring 11 runs on 16 hits, Martins Ferry stranded 10 runners, including the bases loaded in each of the first three frames.