April 3rd, 2007
Fred Kavelak, correspondent
Lady Bisons Held to 2 Hits in 1-0 SetbackHYDE --- The euphoria of Thursday's big 2-0 win over 2006 PIAA Class AAA runner-up Punxsutawney didn't last long for the Clearfield Area High School softball team.
The Lady Bisons were brought back to earth by defending District 9 Class AA champion Brookville Monday at the Bison Sports Complex. Leah Deitrich's pitching was the difference as the Lady Raiders prevailed 1-0 even though they stranded 11 baserunners.
A junior righthander with six different pitches, Deitrich limited the Lady Bisons to a pair of doubles and struck out eight.
Her dominating performance didn't surprise Brookville coach Greg Fenstermaker, who was expecting Deitrich to be very effective in her first season at the varsity level because of her experience in a summer traveling league.
"We said at the beginning of the year we were going to have a good team," he said after the Lady Raiders upped their record to 2-0. "Leah pitched a great game. We played good defense. All 11 girls did a great job."
"She did a real nice job, and they played good defense," Clearfield coach Bob Dixon agreed. "She worked a lot from the waist up, and we were under almost everything. Anything we did hit was just up in the air.
"We didn't hit, and you can't win when you don't score any runs. I always preach pitching and defense. My theory is if the other team doesn't score, you can't lose. But you've got to score one sometime.
"You play two games and give up one run and you're 1-1. It happens."
The Lady Raiders roughed up Clearfield hurler Mandy Rowles for 11 hits, all singles, but the sophomore righthander kept her team in the game by making key pitches, most of her 11 strikeouts coming with runners in scoring position, and getting good defensive support from the infield.
Rowles' lone walk came back to haunt her. She issued the free pass to No. 9 batter Kaylona Wolfe with one out in the third inning. Megan McKinley then lined a single off first baseman Brittany Pataky's glove. Rowles fanned Brynna Hetrick, but Dietrich's bloop fell between the pitcher's circle and first base for a hit to load the sacks. Carlie Cook, who hit .344 last season, then lined the second of her three hits to center field for the game's lone run.
"They hit the ball well, and hit it where we weren't," Dixon said. "There were a lot of seeing-eye singles."
Dixon was impressed the way his young pitcher battled through tough situations. Rowles twice logged the third out with the bases full of Lady Raiders. Another time, she got the final two outs with runners at second and third.
"She threw her heart out," Dixon said. "She pitched out of a lot of jams."
Alyssa Anderson broke up Deitrich's no-no by lining a double down the left field line with one out in the fifth inning.
Clearfield's only other hit came when Brookville leftfielder Ashley Modany slipped and Brittany Pataky's wind-aided fly ball fell behind her for a double leading off the seventh.
However, the Lady Bisons failed to push her around for the tying run. Pataky advanced to third on Rowles' groundout, but she had to hold on Nikki Collins' fly to short right. Then, Anderson's liner to center was snared on the run by Megan McKinley.
"We've played two good teams in District 9, maybe two of the best, and they were tight games," Dixon said. "I think we have a pretty good team. Maybe this will get us back on track. We were not going to be undefeated."
Highlighting Clearfield's defense werre plays by third baseman Megan Butler on a first-inning grounder and centerfielder Ashley Lias on a sixth-inning single when she gunned a throw to the plate to nail Stephanie Beatty trying to score from second base.
The Lady Bisons are idle until April 12, when they will get another shot at Deitrich on the Lady Raiders' home field.
BROOKVILLE --- 1
Megan McKinley cf 4010, Brynna Hetrick dp 4020, Leah Deitrich p 4020, Carlie Cook c 4031, Stephanie Beatty 2b 4000, Tasha Swonger ss 4020, Sarah Angiolelli 3b 3010, Amanda Leibman lf-rf 3000, Kaylona Wolfe rf 1100, Ashley Modany lf 1000, Tammi McCullough (flex) 1b. TOTALS: 32 1 11 1.
CLEARFIELD --- 0
Alanna Luzier 2b 3000, Ashley Lias cf 3000, Brittany Pataky 1b 3010, Mandy Rowles p 3000, Nikki Collins ss 3000, Alyssa Anderson rf 3010, Kenzie McGovern c 2000, Megan Butler 3b 2000. TOTALS: 24 0 2 0.
Score by Innings
Brookville 001 000 0 - 1 11 1
Clearfield 000 000 0 - 0 2 2
Errors - Swonger; Luzier, Lias. LOB - Brookville 12; Clearfield 3. 2B - Pataky, Anderson.
Pitching
Deitrich - 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K.
Rowles - 7 IP, 11 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K.
W - Deitrich (2-0). L - Rowles (0-2).
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