HYDE – Heather Picard authored a three-hitter, Rachel Hoffman ripped two homers good for four runs and Melinda Owens cracked a two-run homer as the Clearfield Area High School softball team got what might be a five-game week off to a great start by trimming Tyrone 11-1 at the Bison Sports Complex Monday afternoon.
Andrea Butler set the table the first three innings with base hits in the Lady Bisons’ second Mountain League Allegheny Division win over the Lady Eagles in three days.
Because of the 10-run rule, Picard had to step into the circle only five times for her second victory.
The sophomore right-hander struck out five and didn’t issue a walk, losing a shutout when Destany Allen homered to left center in the fourth inning.
“Heather threw a nice game, and we played pretty good defense,” coach Bob Dixon said after Clearfield hiked its record to 5-6 with a 2-3 league mark. “We didn’t have an error and we hit the ball well.”
He was pleased to hear the that they made the most of nine hits and stranded only two runners.
“That’s not bad,” he said. “We’ll take that every night.”
Clearfield quickly grabbed the early lead.
Butler looped a single over short, Melinda Owens sacrificed and B.J. Bowman drilled a double down the left field line. Two wild pitches later, it was 2-0.
Hoffman capped a six-run outburst in the second frame with a three-run homer high over the hitter-friendly fence in left center.
All of the runs were unearned because of Tyrone’s lone misplay on Bowman’s two-out high fly to left center. Butler, who had bunted for a hit, and Owens, aboard on a force-out, sprinted to the plate. Suzie Colesar’s infield hit and Mikayla Ebeling’s RBI single to center preceded Hoffman’s clout.
The bunts by Owens and Butler had Dixon beaming.
“We’ve been working on getting our little game going better,” he said. “We didn’t need it this game, but later in the season, maybe even (Tuesday) night, we may need it.”
Owens set the score at 10-0 in the third with her liner that cleared the fence in left after Butler had rolled a hit through the middle.
Then, Hoffman matched Allen’s solo homer with her fourth roundtripper of the season in the fourth inning.
Allen had two hits for Tyrone, winless in 11 games, seven against Allegheny Division opponents.
In Saturday’s make-up game at Tyrone, Clearfield opened a 9-1 bulge and then held on when the Lady Eagles posted six runs on two hits, three hit batsmen, three walks and two Lady Bison errors in the sixth inning.
Hoffman was lifted after retiring the first batter in that inning because of discomfort in her pitching arm after allowing only one hit and fanning nine.
She came back to register the save for her third victory with a clean seventh, including a 10th strikeout to end it.
Hoffman doubled and tripled, Bowman singled twice and Ebeling added a two-run single to spark the Lady Bison offense.
Clearfield will play at home again Tuesday against Hollidaysburg, Wednesday against Philipsburg-Osceola and Thursday against Huntingdon.
See photos of the win here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsSBall050211.html
MONDAY’S GAME
TYRONE — 1
Kristin Bonsell 2b 2000, Kelly Moore rf 2000, Alex Brooks ss 2010, Destany Allen 3b 2121, Jordan Henderson 1b 2000, Keturah Weaver lf 1000, Ashley Smith ph 1000, Tessa Corle cf 1000, Kylie Rutherford ph 1000, Amber Friday c 1000, Lucy Raftery ph 1000, Liz Hill dp 1000, Amber Tepsic p (flex) 0000. TOTALS: 17 1 3 1.
CLEARFIELD — 11
Andrea Butler ss 3330, Megan Vanderburgh ss 0000, Melinda Owens 2b 2212, B.J. Bowman cf 3111, Sarah Graham lf 0000, Suzie Colesar 3b 2110, Mikayla Ebeling rf 2111, Rachel Hoffman lf-cf 3224, McKenzie Moore c 3000, Lucy Kovalick 1b 2000, Robyn McBride dp 1000, Heather Picard p (flex) 0000. TOTALS: 21 11 9 8.
Score by Innings
Tyrone 000 10 – 1 3 1
Clearfield 262 1x – 11 9 0
Error – Corle. LOB – Tyrone 1; Clearfield 2. 2B – Bowman. HR – Allen; Owens (2), Hoffman 2 (4). Sac – Owens. SB – Butler.
Pitching
Tyrone – Tepsic 4 IP, 9 H, 11 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K.
Clearfield – Picard 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
WP – Tepsic 3.
W – Picard (2-6). L – Tepsic.
Umpires – Scott Viehdorfer (plate) and Al Fricke (bases).
* * * * *
SATURDAY’S GAME
CLEARFIELD — 9
Butler ss-p-ss 4101, Owens 2b 2311, Bowman cf 4121, Colesar 3b 2000, Ebeling rf 4112, Kovalick 1b 3000, Taylor Humberson dp 2001, Vanderburgh dp-ss-p 211, Hoffman p-lf-p 4121, Amber Scott c 3111, McBride lf (flex) 0000. TOTALS: 30 9 8 8.
TYRONE — 7
Bonsell 2b 4000, Moore rf 4120, Allen p-3b 3100, Brooks ss 2200, Henderson 1b 3101, Candace Ellenberg cf 2101, Friday c 2101, Corle 3b-p 3011, Weaver lf 2000. TOTALS: 25 7 3 4.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 103 320 0 – 9 8 3
Tyrone 010 006 0 – 7 3 2
Errors – Butler, Scott 2; Henderson, Weaver. PB – Scott 2; Friday 5. DP – Clearfield 1 (Butler unassisted). LOB – Clearfield 5; Tyrone 4. 2B – Owens, Hoffman. 3B – Hoffman.
Pitching
Clearfield – Hoffman 6-1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K; Butler 0+ IP (faced 2 batters in 6th), 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 K, 0 BB; Vanderburgh 2/3 IP, 1 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K.
Tyrone – Allen 4 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 2 K; Corle 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
HB – Butler 1 (Allen); Vanderburgh 2 (Ellenberg, Friday).
W – Hoffman (3-0). L – Allen. Save – Hoffman (1).
