ASHLAND — Any time spent on a softball diamond is time well spent for Ontario coach Sean Snow and his Warriors.
Ontario opened play at the 29th Wendy’s Spring Classic with an entertaining 10-9 loss to Cleveland St. Joseph Academy under the lights at Cahn Grove Park on a blustery Thursday evening. The loss was the first of the season for the Warriors (4-1), but the outcome wasn’t nearly as important to Snow as was the opportunity to finally see live competition.
Ontario has had two-thirds of its scheduled games postponed because of inclement weather.
“This was supposed to be our 15th game and we’ve played five. We’re hitting .333,” Snow said. “It’s important for us to get outside and get the reps.
“It’s hard to be on the losing end but it was a great game.”
The Jaguars (3-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first before Ontario erupted for six runs in the second. The Warriors sent 11 batters to the plate and banged out five hits in the frame.
St. Joseph scored twice in the third and four more in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 7-7. Ontario reclaimed an 8-7 lead in the home half of the inning and added a run in the bottom of the fifth for a 9-7 advantage. The Jaguars responded with three runs in the top of the sixth, with the game-tying and game-winning runs scoring on wild pitches.
“Nobody wants to lose, but when you lose close games at least you know you are competitive,” Snow said. “We are young and we are learning every game and that goes for me, too.
“We’ll continue to learn and continue to get better and by the time the tournament comes around we should be playing at our peak.”
Trista Jewell scored a pair of runs to lead the Warriors, who return to action at 10:45 a.m. Saturday against Amherst Steele at Hillsdale High School. Strasburg-Franklin blanked Steele 10-0 Thursday.
