BROCKWAY – A bunch of one-run losses became distant memories for the Clearfield Area High School softball team Wednesday when Mandy Rowles pitched a four-hit shutout and Brittany Pataky drove in runs with two of her four hits as the Lady Bisons jolted defending champion and No. 1 seed Punxsutawney 4-0 for the District 9 Class AAA championship.
One of those tough setbacks came in last year\’s 9-AAA title game, when the Lady Bisons departed the same Brockway Area High School Field in stunned disbelief on the short end of a 2-1 score, the deciding run posted after a controversial ruling on a play at first base in the bottom of the seventh inning.
That day was uppermost in the minds of the Lady Bisons moreso than the eight defeats by one run this season.
\”We talked about that, about a little bit of revenge,\” Clearfield coach Bob Dixon said. \”They (Lady Chucks) didn\’t do anything to us, but we owed them, because we didn\’t get a chance at this last year. So we\’re very, very, very happy.\”
Dixon had no doubts that the Lady Bisons would be the players streaming together for a jubilant victory celebration on the infield this hot, sunny day.
\”I told these girls last week I had a premonition that we were gonna win this game,\” he said. \”I reached into my pocket, I think it was last Thursday, when I walked in Sheetz, and I pulled out a piece of paper with the lineup they (Lady Chucks) had when we lost 6-3 up at Punxsy this year. And something just came to me that we were gonna win.\”
Rowles\’ pitching, sparkling inner defense and timely hitting against Punxsy ace Brooke Callen made Dixon a prophet.
The Lady Chucks, who finished 15-4 with virtually the same lineup that reached the PIAA finals before losing 3-0 to Donegal last year, posed a mild threat in the first inning on two-out singles by Lauren Martino, her school-record 77th hit, and Nicole Cappella.
However, Rowles fanned Callen to begin frustrating the Lady Chucks. Aided by a double play when second baseman Alanna Luzier made a shoetop grab of pinch-hitter Kelsey McFarland\’s soft liner and threw to first before Samantha Reitz could get back, Rowles faced only 20 batters over the last six innings, two over the minimum.
\”She threw a heck of a ball game,\” Dixon praised his sophomore righthander, who struck out four and walked only one. \”She located very well. Very few pitches missed the mark. She was always right at the glove or right in that area. We worked down and away most of the night. We were just trying to make them hit our pitches.\”
The Lady Chucks obliged. They couldn\’t get under the ball and had only one flyout. Clearfield infielders gobbled up 12 grounders for outs. Cappella\’s line-drive single was the only ball that got through the left side of the infield as third baseman Megan Butler and shortstop Nikki Collins turned the routine and difficult stops into outs. They combined for eight assists.
\”When we play like that, it\’s tough to beat us,\” Dixon said. \”Our defense covered every gap, and Mandy kept the ball away from them. We kept it down. We made them beat it into the ground. We just scooped it up and threw to first. They did a great job.\”
Clearfield stranded seven runners over the first three innings but also chased home two.
In the first, two infield miscues cost Punxsy a run when Pataky rolled a run-scoring single up the middle. In the third, Rowles walked, Pataky singled off Callen\’s glove and Julie Colesar bounced a single into center to drive in courtesy runner Ashley Condon.
\”Every time we needed a hit, Pataky was coming through, and Julie had a nice clutch hit and RBI,\” Dixon said.
The Lady Bisons doubled the score in the fourth. Ashley Lias hustled down the line on a popup that fell behind the circle for her second hit, moved up on a groundout and raced to the plate when Rowles\’ liner ricocheted off Callen\’s right knee and over third baseman Martino\’s head.
Angie Burke relieved Callen and Pataky promptly laced a double into the right center gap for an RBI.
Burke struck out the next five Lady Bisons and allowed only one more hit, but the damage had been done.
And Rowles was pitching the way she did back on March 29 when she shut out the Lady Chucks 2-0 in Clearfield\’s opener.
\”It feels really good to win this one,\” Dixon said.
So, the Lady Bisons will return to Brockway Monday with a deceiving 11-9 record for the first round of the PIAA Playoffs Monday. Their opponent will be the loser of today\’s District 7 (WPIAL) championship game between Elizabeth-Forward (17-3) and Belle Vernon (18-5).
CLEARFIELD – 4
Alanna Luzier 2b 4000, Ashley Lias 4220, Nikki Collins ss 4000, Mandy Rowles p 3211, Brittany Pataky 4042, Julie Colesar lf 4011, Alyssa Anderson rf 4000, Megan Butler 3b 3010, Kenzie McGovern c 2000. TOTALS: 32 4 9 4.
PUNXSUTAWNEY – 0
Tiffany DuPont ss 3000, Noelle Janocha rf 3000, Lauren Martino 3b 3010, Nicole Cappella c 3020, Brooke Callen p-lf 3000, Katie Baun 2b 3000, Tina Elgin dp 2010, Samantha Reitz 1b 2000, Allie Miller lf-cf 1000, Kelsey McFarland ph 1000, Jessica Slagle (flex) cf-pr 0000, Angie Burke (flex) p 0000. TOTALS: 24 0 4 0.
Score by Innings:
Clearfield 101 200 0 – 4 9 0
Punxsutawney 000 000 0 – 0 4 3
Errors – Martino, Reitz, Miller. DP – Clearfield 1 (Luzier and Pataky). LOB – Clearfield 9; Punxsutawney 4. 2B – Pataky. SB – Slagle.
Pitching
Clearfield – Rowles 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.
Punxsutawney – Callen 3-2/3 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; Burke 3-1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
WP – Burke.
W – Rowles (7-8). L – Callen (6-3).
Umpires – Jeff Anderson (plate), Ron Bacha (first), Father Eric Voyt (second), Jim Seinbiser (third