CLEVELAND — Some softball games take an inning or two to sort themselves out.
This one took one pitch. Brooke Kyser — first to the plate for Mannford — saw the first pitch of the afternoon and slapped it to short for a single. No feeling-out process. No ceremonial letting the first pitch go by.
The Lady Pirates had arrived in Cleveland with a goal.
By the time the first inning stopped spinning, Mannford had four runs, five hits and firm control of what became a 14-0, four-inning win over the Lady Tigers on Aug. 20.
Cleveland did not exactly volunteer for the role of supporting cast. The Lady Tigers were simply handed a brutal assignment: slow down a Mannford lineup that spent the afternoon hitting, bunting, running and generally making life difficult every few pitches.
After Kyser's opening single, Tinley Greenwood reached on a bunt, Cambri Casey doubled home the game's first run and Bella Gilbert followed with a two-run double. Carlee Maxville later reached on an error that brought Gilbert home, and Mannford walked back to the dugout with a 4-0 lead before Cleveland had taken a swing.
Then Casey made sure Cleveland never got a chance to answer.
The Mannford pitcher threw four no-hit innings, struck out nine and allowed just one walk. Cleveland managed a baserunner on an error in the second and another on a walk in the fourth, but Casey never let either threat become anything more than a brief interruption.
The score stayed 4-0 through the second, which, in retrospect, qualified as Cleveland's peaceful stretch.
Mannford resumed operations in the third.
Abi Hockersmith singled, Carlee Maxville walked and Lexi Lovekamp moved both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Leksikae Coleman then ripped a two-run double to left, and after Ella Maxville reached on an error, Kyser drove in two more with a hard ground-ball single to left.
That made it 8-0. Then came the fourth inning, when Gilbert got bored with hitting doubles and launched a solo home run to left to make it 9-0 and start a six-run rally that turned a comfortable Mannford lead into a mercyrule countdown. Coleman later drew a bases-loaded walk, two runs scored on an error off Greenwood's bat and two more came across when Casey reached on another Cleveland miscue.
Gilbert, because not satisfied with an extra-base hit an inning, came up again and doubled to right before Cleveland finally recorded the third out to escape the torture.
Gilbert finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and the home run. Greenwood had a 4-for-4 afternoon and four RBIs, and the Lady Pirates finished with 11 hits; Only six of the 14 runs charged to pitcher Khloe Carter were earned, meaning the final score was as much about Mannford relentlessly forcing action as it was about anything Carter did in the circle. Cleveland committed several costly errors, and the Pirates made nearly every one of them hurt.
That matters, because 14-0 looks like a demolition on a scoreboard. The actual game was a little more complicated.
Mannford hit the ball exceptionally well, with 12 hits in 24 at bats. Casey was dominant. Gilbert had one of those afternoons hitters keep in their mental trophy case. But Cleveland also gave a very good team extra opportunities, and Mannford showed absolutely no interest in returning them unused.
For the Lady Tigers, there isn't much value in staring at the 14.
There is value in remembering the first pitch.
Kyser swung at it, reached first, and Mannford never stopped coming.
Sometimes the tone of a game develops slowly.
Sometimes it lands on the first throw.