By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
SWANTON (March 26, 2025) – Any ball player has big dreams of big games on opening day and Swanton’s Cara Ludlow probably hopes she has the same dream over and over again throughout the softball season.
The Bulldog catcher went 4-4 with a pair of doubles, a three-run homer and six runs batted in as Swanton rolled to a 14-4 triumph over Pettisville in the season opener for both teams.
“We came off a really strong scrimmage against Toledo Central Catholic,” Swanton coach Lauren Yoder said. “They are a great team, and I know Pettisville has come a long way too.”
“It just took us a while to wake up those bats, once we did though we did a pretty nice job of putting the ball in play. Overall, I’m just really happy how we hit.”
Pettisville got a pair in the first inning to take an early lead. Swanton starter Beyla Remer walked the first two hitters and Yoder went to the relief corps right away, bringing in Adriana Elliott.
A bounce out and Naomi Richer’s line drive single to right brought in the Blackbird tallies but Elliott got stingy after that, allowing only a single run in the third on a pair of loopers and Macy Hoylman’s rope to right.
“We lost our number one (pitcher) last year in Taylor Forrest and we knew we had some big shoes to fill,” Yoder stated.
“We have three pitchers; Adriana Elliott is a sophomore who has made a huge improvement from last year. She is excited to see that it’s her time. She stepped up when we really needed her and needed some strikes, and she did exactly that.”
In the meantime, the Bulldogs got the bats going. Ludlow’s double to right-center knocked home Alexa Faber to get a run back in the first, then with two on and two down in the third, Ludlow delivered again with a blast over the left-center field fence to give Swanton a 4-3 lead.
“She really needed that for her confidence,” Yoder expressed of Ludlow’s big hit and big game. “It was really a rally starter; we weren’t hitting great until then and she really stepped up when we needed her to several times.”
That seemingly lit the fuse on the keg of dynamite as Swanton followed the three-run third up with an eight spot in the fourth.
Gabbie Orner and Elliott each doubled to open the inning and Kinley Curtis followed with an RBI single to make it 6-3.
Remer’s hard grounder up the middle put runners at first and third, setting the stage for Lacey Shinaver, who dropped a run-scoring double down the left field line.
One out later, Ludlow made a bid for a two-dinger night but came up just short as her drive rattled off the yellow atop the center field fence for yet another two-base hit, the fourth in the inning for the Bulldogs.
After Emily Leonard singled, Orner hitting for the second time in the inning, blasted a shot that cleared the left-center fence to make it a 12-3 Swanton lead.
Pettisville got one back in the top of the fifth on Hoylman’s RBI single, but Swanton ended the game in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs.
Ludlow’s fourth hit, a run producing single after two walks, brought home one run, then Jordyn Ramirez ended it with a bouncer that made it 14-4.
Elliott added three hits for Swanton, while Curtis, Remer, Shinaver and Orner each had two. Richer, Olivia Miller, and Hoylman had two hits each for Pettisville.
PHS 201 01 – 4 6 2
SHS 103 82 – 14 19 0
Records: PHS 0-1, SHS 1-0
WINNING PITCHER: Elliot (4 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk) Other: Remer
LOSING PITCHER: Hoylman (4 innings, 16 hits, 12 runs, 8 earned, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts) Other: Moden
LEADING HITTERS: (Pettisville) Miller – 2 singles, Hoylman – 2 singles, 2 RBIs; Richer – 2 singles, RBI; (Swanton) Ludlow – home run, 2 doubles, single, 2 runs 6 RBIs; Shinaver – double, single, RBI; Remer – 2 singles, 3 runs, Shinaver – double, single, RBI; Ramirez – single, 2 RBIs; Orner – home run, double, 2 RBIs; Elliot – double, 2 singles