By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Two runs in each of the second, third and fourth innings propelled the Garfield softball team to a 6-4 win April 28 at Columbiana Crestview. The G-Men upped their record to 6-7.

Pacing Garfield at the plate was freshman third baseman Diamond Dyson, who had two singles, an RBI and a run.

Pitching-wise senior Juliana Genovese started and went the distance, yielding four hits while striking out six and walking three.

“Juliana was a little rocky at the start, but she recovered well,” Garfield softball head coach Tina Faulhaber said. “Any time she got herself in a jam, she powered through it. Some of her strikeouts came at key times.”

Four days earlier, on April 24, Garfield won a thriller 8-7 in nine innings at home over Mineral Ridge. Leading 6-1 after six innings, it looked like the G-Men would cruise to victory, but in the top of the seventh the Rams exploded for six runs to forge ahead 7-6. The home team tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI hit by senior catcher Kolby Fresch.

Garfield won in walk-off fashion in the last of the ninth on freshman shortstop Emily Knerem’s RBI double.

“The fact that we were able to come back and fight back after losing the lead was nice to see,” said Faulhaber.

Knerem wound up with three hits, three RBI and a run. Genovese, manning third base in this game, singled three times, knocked in two runs and scored once.

On the mound, freshman Olivia Bailey started and went the distance, fanning eight and walking just one.

“Olivia was pretty lights-out for most of the game. She was just truckin’ along, doing her things, hitting her spots and mixing it up with location and speed,” Faulhaber said. “Then we fell a little bit off the defensive train during the seventh inning. There were lots of physical errors, but mental errors, too. Olivia had a little bit of a moment where she was looking kind of tired, looking kind of stressed. When she went back out for the eighth and ninth innings, though, she was back to full vigor and strength. She was good to go. She did not want to come out of that game. She kind of runs like a machine.”