HYDE - In what coach Bob Dixon hopes is a portent of things to come, Clearfield got hits in key situations to back Mandy Rowles' strong pitching for a 10-1 win over DuBois Central Catholic in scholastic girls softball action at the Bison Sports Complex Monday afternoon.
The Lady Bisons bunched their dozen hits into three innings, Alanna Luzier and Ashley Lias socking three apiece. Lias, Rowles, Brittany Pataky and Nikki Collins each drove in two runs.
"The girls played real well and we hit the ball, especially towards the end of the game, real well," Dixon said. "I don't know where that was Saturday, but they stroked it pretty well tonight."
Clearfield did have 15 hits but mustered only three runs in Philipsburg-Osceola's Mountaineer Tournament.
The Lady Bisons needed a couple of innings to shake off the effects of the one-run losses to Northern Cambria and Hollidaysburg, falling behind in the first inning when losing pitcher Abbie Heigel belted a high offering from Rowles to right center for a two-out home run.
"Was I worried? No, not really," Dixon reflected. "I knew we were going to hit sooner or later."
The Lady Bisons began to solve Heigel's curve in the third inning. Luzier poked a single to right, stole second, advanced to third on Pataky's comebacker and scored when Collins' sharp grounder resulted in a Lady Cardinal error. With two down, Alyssa Anderson drilled a single to right center and Lias cracked a single through the middle for the game-winning RBI.
Those were the only runs Rowles needed. The sophomore righthander hurled a two-hitter, striking out six and setting down 10 of the last 11 batters she faced. The Lady Cardinals had only three runners after Heigel's homer, and one was erased on a steal attempt by batterymate Kenzie McGovern.
"Mandy threw a nice game," Dixon said. "She had a little blister on her hand, so I was gonna throw Toni (Brubaker), but I flip-flopped. I'm gonna throw Toni tomorrow night against Brookville."
Brubaker will be appreciative if the Lady Bisons continue to hit the way they did in the late innings.
In the fifth, Luzier beat out a roller to third base to ignite a three-run rally. She stole second and took third on a Pataky groundout again before sliding headfirst into home on a wild pitch. After Collins walked and moved into scoring position with the second of her three stolen bases, Rowles cashed the RBI opportunity with a grounder inside third base. Courtesy runner Ashley Condon scored on a single by Lias.
The Lady Bisons strung together five consecutive hits in the sixth to double their run total. Julie Colesar lined a single over the first base bag, Luzier got a gift single when her infield popup fell between two Lady Cardinals and Pataky whacked a double to right center for two ribbies. Collins followed with an RBI-single to center, stole second again and raced home on Rowles' slicing double into right center. Courtesy runner Condon then scored on Lias' third single.
"Hitting is contagious, I guess," Dixon said. "That's the old cliché. Once we started pecking away, then (we got) another hit, and then all of a sudden two or three girls started hitting, and so on. Hopefully, that will lead to better things coming up."
An errorless game did not go unnoticed by Dixon, who singled out sophomore Courtney Morgan in her first start at third base with Megan Butler not available.
"We played good defense," he said. "Butler had a school program going on, so she couldn’t be here. Courtney stepped right in and did a nice job. She made three fine plays out there."
Clearfield's aggressive baserunning, including the five steals by Luzier and Collins, also was a factor.
"We went to try to put pressure on the other team," Dixon said. "And it can hurt you. We had three baserunning blunders in the tournament that really cost us big. But we try to make them make a mistake. And tonight, even though they didn’t have anything really bad, as far as throwing the ball around, the runners moved up and got in scoring position and we scored some runs."
Dixon would be delighted to look back on this win as the Lady Bisons' breakout game.
"If you’d have told me we’d be 5-and-4 after nine games, I would have said no way. I think we’re better than that. As long as we keep getting better, and keep improving, especially if our hitting keeps improving, by the end of the year I think we’ll be in real good shape to go into the playoffs."
Clearfield's home game against Brockway that was postponed on April 16 has been rescheduled for Thursday, athletic director Jon Mikesell announced.
That gives the Lady Bisons a four-game week. They will travel to Brookville today and host DuBois Friday.
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC --- 1
Beth Pernesky ss 3000, Molly Yebernetsky cf 3010, Abbie Heigel p 3111, Gabby Saldutte c 2000, Tenecha Campbell rf 3000, Sarah Flick 2b 2000, Jill Brosky 1b 2000, Alyssa Himes lf 2000, Brekka Stoughton 3b 2000. TOTALS: 21 1 2 1.
CLEARFIELD --- 10
Alanna Luzier 2b 4330, Brittany Pataky 1b 4112, Nikki Collins ss 3312, Mandy Rowles p 4222, Alyssa Anderson rf 4011, Ashley Lias cf 4032, Sara Kovalick lf 2000, Mallory Janocko ph-lf 1000, Kenzie McGovern c 2000, Julie Colesar dp 3110, Courtney Morgan (flex) 3b 0000. TOTALS: 31 10 12 9.
Score by Innings:
DuBois CC 100 000 0 - 1 2 3
Clearfield 002 003 5 - 10 12 0
Errors - Pernesky, Himes, Stoughton; PB - Saldutte 1; McGovern 1. LOB - DuBois CC 2; Clearfield 6. 2B - Pataky, Rowles. HR - Heigel. SB - Luzier 2, Collins 3.
Pitching
DuBois CC - Heigel 6 IP, 12 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 3 BB, 6 K.
Clearfield - Rowles 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K.
WP - Heigel 5.
W - Rowles (3-4). L - Heigel (3-4).
|
