Goon, Huber sparkle in Hillsdale's softball win over Mogadore

JEROMESVILLE — Even after a tough first inning in the field, Mollie Goon made her presence known Friday by smacking a two-run home and Lacy Huber added a bases-clearing double as the Hillsdale softball team rallied for an 8-3 win over Mogadore.

Hillsdale is now 15-3 overall while Mogadore slips to 12-4.

More: Ashland County Softball Power Rankings: Hillsdale stay No. 1, Mapleton keep climbing

Goon had some fielding troubles from her shortstop position in the opening inning as Mogadore scored a pair of runs with the Wildcats' Lily Hotchkiss coming up with an RBI double. Mogadore added a run in the top of the third to go up 3-0 on the strength of Olivia Kipp’s solo homer to left field.

But, in the bottom half of the third frame, Goon cracked a moonshot to center, driving in Jordyn Ficks and cutting Mogadore’s lead to 3-2.

“I had a couple of errors in the first inning that really shook me, and I think part of that was because my sister was here watching and I wanted to impress her,” Goon said. “After those errors and them scoring, I had to be the one to come back for us to light the flame again. Honestly, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool if I hit a home run? And that’s all I was thinking, and I just knew I had to come through for my team and put the ball in play, shake my errors, and I ended up making some pretty good plays.”

Singles by Belle Dalton and Kennedy Fickes followed and Rodalynn Mast was hit by a pitch to load the bases. That set the stage for Huber, who blasted a double to right-center to clear the bases and give Hillsdale a 5-3 lead, one they would not relinquish.

“I heard from my teammates this girl (Mogadore pitcher Katie Gardner) was throwing a rise, low outside, inside, and when I was going into the box I was thinking see ball, hit ball,” Huber said. “And she threw it outside and I hit it. It’s not my favorite pitch but I hit it.”

Freshman pitcher Kennedy Fickes shut down the final four innings, scattering seven hits and did not register a walk.

“We came in and knew Mogadore was a good team with a great record but all of my pitches were on tonight and I was just trying to hit corners,” Fickes said. “I was just trying to hit corners, go in and out and go high and low and it worked well.”

Fickes’ older sister Jordyn, a sophomore, also played a flawless centerfield with a number of fine plays, and led the team with three hits, her big blast coming in the fourth inning when she rocketed a two-run home run to left-center.

“(Gardner) was a really good pitcher, they have a great team and I was just looking for my pitch and was just looking for something to drive,” Jordyn Fickes said. “We’re a great team, we’re never out of the game, no matter what the score is, and we can always count on someone to get a big hit, just like Laci did.”

Gardner closed with 10 strikeouts, three walks but yielded eight earned runs on 12 hits. Goon, Dalton and Huber each had a pair of hits.

“I think the girls just did a really good job of staying disciplined at the plate, and they never give up; they’re always fighting throughout the entire game,” Hillsdale coach Hannah Moore said. “They’re never giving up their at-bats, they’re trying to get good pitches, good swings and it’s showing this year.

“And our senior class (Goon, Dalton, Jacey Sermulis, Lillyan Aumend) is pretty special. They’ve all got their own role on this team and they’re doing a really good job of staying focused. They want it this year.”

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Hillsdale Goon, Huber lead Falcons to softball win over Mogadore