Tuesday night in Ashtabula County had all the makings of a playoff game — two conference champions, two sharp pitchers, and a defense-first battle that came down to a single unearned run. Unfortunately for the Lady Lakers, it was Edgewood’s run. PV dropped a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to the Warriors, falling to 12-7 on the season while Edgewood improved to 15-2.
This was a clash of conference champions — the Chagrin Valley Conference Lake Division champion Warriors against the NAC Stars division champion Lady Lakers — and it played like one. Edgewood scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the first on a fielder’s choice that plated a runner without the benefit of a hit, and senior Luci Paolillo made sure that was all the Warriors would need. Paolillo was exceptional from first pitch to last — seven full innings, eight hits allowed, zero runs, zero walks, and eleven strikeouts on 120 pitches. She was in command all night, and every time PV threatened, she found a way to strand the runners and get back to the dugout unscathed.
And PV did threaten — twice in particularly painful fashion. In the top of the first, Kailee Reynolds doubled to put two runners on with a chance to answer Edgewood’s early run right away, but Paolillo worked out of it without allowing a run to score. It was a theme that would repeat itself throughout the night — the Lady Lakers consistently put runners on base but could never string together the sequence of events needed to push one across against a pitcher who seemed to get sharper as the stakes rose. The cruelest moment came in the top of the seventh, with PV down to their final out and the game on the line — McKenna Jordan was hit by a pitch with 2 outs and Elizabeth Jernigan followed with a single to left to put two on and give the Lady Lakers one last chance to steal the game. Paolillo, unfazed, shut the door and finished the game without surrendering a single run. The Lady Lakers racked up eight hits on the night but simply could not find the timely knock when it mattered most.
On the other side, sophomore Peyton Hudson was every bit Paolillo’s equal. Hudson worked six innings, allowing just five hits and one unearned run while striking out six and walking one. She gave her team every opportunity to win the game, and on most nights that performance gets a victory. Both defenses were sharp — Edgewood committed zero errors and PV just one — adding to the feeling that this was a postseason-caliber game played in the middle of May.
The loss stings, but there is no time to dwell on it. The Lady Lakers return home Wednesday evening for a 5 p.m. first pitch in Andover as the OHSAA Division V Northeast 4 Sectional gets underway. The #14 seeded Lady Lakers host the #18 seed Canton Central Catholic Crusaders, and a win would send PV to face the winner of #4 seed Massillon Tuslaw next week. With the division title already in hand and a full week of momentum behind them, PV will be ready to make some noise in the postseason.