Lady Bisons Fail to Capitalize on Picard’s Gem

SPRING MILLS – Heather Picard turned in an outstanding performance for the Clearfield Area High School softball team Friday.

Unfortunately, the junior right-hander wasn’t rewarded with a victory for her three-hit, three-strikeout, no-walk effort in the Mountain League cross-over game.

Penns Valley’s Maggie Lynch was even stingier, spinning a two-hitter with nine-strikeouts to win the 1-0 duel.

“Heather pitched a heck of a game,” Clearfield coach Bob Dixon said, quickly adding that her fastball-curveball mixture reminded  him of last year’s Philipsburg-Osceola heart-breaker which Picard and the Lady Bisons lost 2-1 to the eventual PIAA Class AA champion.

“Her curve was really working, and her location was excellent, in and out, up and down,” he said. “It was a very good game. It’s too bad either team had to lose.”

Both teams played very good defense, each guilty of one harmless miscue and both catchers throwing out runners on stolen base attempts.

Lady Bison Lucy Kovalick, who was moved from first base, nailed two Lady Rams with strong throws.

“She did a great job behind the plate,” Dixon said. “Our battery was excellent.”

Penns Valley cashed in the lone run in the fourth inning when Clarissa Keller led off with a single, raced all the way to third base on Megan Houser’s sacrifice bunt and crossed the plate on Ashley Struble’s sacrifice fly to center field.

Rachel Hoffman had both Clearfield (0-3) hits, including a blistering double down the left field line in the second inning. However, she was left stranded there as Lynch, who walked only one, retired the side on a  pop-up, a comebacker and a strikeout.

The shutout was the second in a row for the Lady Bisons, who play their first Mountain League Allegheny Division game Wednesday at Huntingdon.

See photos of the game here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsSBall033012.html

CLEARFIELD — 0

Andrea Butler ss 3000, Megan Vanderburgh 3b 3000, B.J. Bowman cf 3000, Rachel Hoffman lf 3020, Melinda Owens 2b 3000, Robyn McBride rf 2000, Lucy Kovalick c 1000, Rebecca Byerly 1b 2000, Heather Picard p 2000.  TOTALS: 22 0 2 0.

PENNS VALLEY — 1

Clarissa Keller 3b 3110, Megan Houser 2b 1000, Ashley Struble ss 1001, Tangie Lyons cf 2000, Madison Sharer 1b 2010, Maggie Lynch p 2010, Nicki Harbaugh c 2000, Morgan Royer rf 1000, Kiliee Wasson ph 1000, Kaleigh Jones lf 2000.  TOTALS: 17 1 3 1.

Score by Innings

Clearfield       000 000 0 – 0  2  1

Penns Valley 000 100 x – 1  3  1

E – Bowman; Houser. DP – Clearfield 1 (Byerly unassisted). LOB – Clearfield 3; Penns Vally 0. 2B – Bowman; Houser. Sac – Houser. SF – Struble. CS – Butler (by Harbaugh); Royer, Sharer (by Kovalick).

Pitching

Clearfield – Picard 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB 3 K.

Penns Valley – Lynch 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 E, 1 BB, 9 K.

W – Lynch. L – Picard (0-2).

Lady Bison Scoreboard: