Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Boardman’s Addie Kowacich high-fives head coach Fred Mootz after hitting a three-run home run during Monday’s win at Canfield.

CANFIELD — At the start of the year, Boardman softball coach Fred Mootz felt confident that he had “two aces” in the circle, not just one. Addie Kowacich proved that to be true on Monday evening.

In the absence of No. 1 pitcher Gabi Sferra, the Spartans didn’t miss a beat as Kowacich stepped into the fold. In her fourth appearance of the season, Kowacich helped lead Boardman to a 7-1 victory over rival Canfield in its All-American Conference opener.

“I had full confidence in Addie coming into this game. She’s a senior, she’s a leader. She went out there and took care of business,” Mootz said. “She mixed it up very well. She had them off balance. That’s a good hitting team there. They’ve put up some runs, and down south, they hit the ball pretty well. We know what they’re capable of doing. She let her defense work. She got us a lot of ground balls and that’s what we want her to do.”

Kowacich had a shutout going all the way until the bottom of the seventh inning.

After back-to-back strikeouts from Kowacich put two outs on the board, the Cardinals loaded the bases and scratched out their lone run of the game after a mishandled forceout at home plate.

She finished with nine strikeouts and gave up just one run on six hits in a complete seven innings of work.

“She pitched really good in that she was changing speeds very effectively,” Canfield coach Kerry Durkin said of Kowacich. “I think we’re in pull mode. I was telling the kids that the best version of ourselves is middle-out. We’re pull, pull, pull, so we’re susceptible to that change-up every time. That’s showing right now, so we need to correct that and get better at that.”

All of Canfield’s hits came from three players. Jenna Triveri had a pair of singles and Sophia Payne had a hit in the first inning, while Makayla Brown was the lone bright spot for the Cardinals, as she went 3-for-3.

Kowacich kept the entire middle of Canfield’s batting order hitless, as they combined to go 0-for-18.

“We gotta hit the ball, that’s what it comes down to,” Durkin said. “Our slappers and our lead-off, Jenna Triveri, they’re going to do what they do, but they need a little support. We got on base in the first inning, three and four coming up, but couldn’t catch it.”

Offensively, Boardman had its power bats in full swing for the first time this season, as all seven of the Spartans’ runs came off three home runs. Nine games in, Mootz said those were the team’s first home runs of the season.

Ellie Wymer got things started for Boardman with a lead-off solo blast in the top of the first inning. Then Addie Rudge followed suit with a two-run homer in the top of the third after a hit from Jocelynn Torres put a runner on base.

In addition to her work in the circle, Kowacich also contributed to the Spartans’ scoring efforts at the plate, blasting a three-run home run to left-centerfield in the top of the seventh inning to seal the deal for the Spartans.

Boardman combined for 16 hits off Canfield pitcher Caylee Ortiz, with Torres and Rudge leading the way with three hits apiece. Wymer, Kowacich and Mikayla Rivera each added two hits.

“I tell them, it’s that pass-the-bat mentality. Don’t do too much,” Mootz said. “We’re 7-1 coming into the day, but we’ve left a lot of runners on base. I think in eight games, it was like 50-some runners. So it was just concentrating on playing base-to-base and pass the bat. If you can hit a couple long balls, like we did today, it’s great. I got great hitters on this team. They made (Ortiz) pay for the mistake pitches, and that’s why we hit those three bombs today.”

The Spartans continue to climb up the state rankings, as they improve to 8-1. Since a season-opening loss to Lakeview on March 21, Boardman has now rattled off eight straight wins, outscoring their opposition 68-11 along the way.

“We just continue to get better day by day. I tell them, just get 1% better every day, and that’s what we’re doing,” Mootz said. “They are just playing very complementary softball. There’s a lot of energy in that dugout and that’s what’s key.”

Meanwhile, after starting the season with high hopes, Canfield falls to 4-4 coming off their spring break Myrtle Beach trip. The Cardinals will have to get through the next few games without a handful of players, as well.

“That’s going to be the next five games. So we’re not going to be whole until the second Fitch game [on April 21],” Durkin said. “I think we’re just going to have to put it together with strings and wire to try to get through it. … It’s tough. It sucks for me, sucks for the team, but it is what it is. We gotta deal with it.”