Freshman Leads Clayton to Softball Tournament Championship

The Clayton softball team has basically the same squad as they did last year when they won two games.

That is with the exception of a very talented freshman.

That freshman, Raime Cohen, along with a new coaching staff led by Bill Schmitz, has helped the Greyhounds to a dominating start in the 2011 season.

The Greyhounds defeated Ladue 10-1 Wednesday in the championship game of the Suburban East Conference Tournament at Shaw Park.

Ladue was actually the first team to take the Greyhounds the full seven inning limit as Clayton has outscored its opponents 100-8.

Cohen is the main reason as she struck out 17 and did not walk a batter against the Rams. She has now struck out 59 and walked just six in 23 innings.

"She's easily the best pitcher we have seen so far," Ladue manager Jennifer Tuttle said. "We were looking forward to facing her."

The Rams had the difficult assignment of facing the hard-throwing right-hander after facing a much lesser pitcher in a 21-0 win over McCluer South-Berkeley in the semifinals.

Clayton would take control of the game with a four-run second inning which featured a triple by Cohen, who had led the game off with a single and scored the game's first run in the opening inning.

"She's a dandy," Schmitz said of Cohen. "She is our only select player. She plays in the outfield with her select team and is probably their No. 3 pitcher."

But she definitely pitched like an ace in the title game Wednesday.

Leadoff hitter Natasha Medler reached base twice for the Rams and scored the only Ladue run while Jessica Mormol was on base all three times. She reached on an error, had a pair of hits and the lone RBI with a single in the sixth inning.

But only one other Ram player was able to reach base against Cohen, who had at least two strikeouts in every inning.

"Pitching is about 80 percent of the game and Raime has shown that so far this year," Schmitz said. "She bailed us out way too often today. We made too many defensive mistakes but she is very mature for her age and knows how to play the game right."

Ladue starter Natalie Grimm struck out six in four and a third innings but was taken out in the fifth after a pair of walks and a home run by Taylor Gold.

"The Clayton-Ladue rivalry is always fun," Tuttle said. "We got beat today by a very good pitcher. But we made some good plays defensively including throwing a girl out at the plate. And I thought we made more consistent contact as the game went on."

Clayton improved to 6-0 for the season while Ladue fell to 3-3.

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