MIFFLINTOWN – The Clearfield Area High School softball team remained in the zone at the plate with a season-high 17 hits and junior Heather Picard kept the Juniata bats quiet for a 12-3 victory in a Mountain League cross-over make-up game Thursday afternoon.
While every Lady Bison contributed to the offense, a quartet combined for a dozen of the hits as the visiting Red and Black reached double figures for the third consecutive game, all wins.
Robyn McBride, inserted into the leadoff spot with shortstop Andrea Butler away on a band trip, responded with a career game, smacking four singles, Rachel Hoffman and Lucy Kovalick ripped a double and two singles apiece and B.J. Bowman belted a home run and a single.
They drove in six runs and scored five.
Hoffman and B.J. Bowman, the No. 3 and No. 4 batters, extended their hitting streaks to 10 and six games, respectively.
Bowman’s two-run homer, her third in five games, staked Clearfield (5-6) to a first-inning lead that Juniata (6-9) erased with all of its runs on three bunts, two resulting in hits and the other misplayed, and a run-scoring looper over short by Tiffany Shoop.
The only other hit Picard allowed was a bloop single by Hayley Colyer in the sixth inning.
She racked up seven strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter in her second win.
The Lady Bisons reclaimed the lead in the second inning on Megan Vanderburgh’s RBI-single and a wild pitch that enabled Nellie Wallace to score what proved to be the winning run.
They put it away with a seven-run outburst in the fourth highlighted by Hoffman’s two-run double and Picard’s two-run single. McBride and Becca Byerly added RBI-singles.
Bowman singled across the final run in the seventh.
“We hit the ball hard and Heather threw a nice game,” Clearfield coach Bob Dixon said. “And we played pretty good defense.”
He noted the team had a new look on the left side of the infield with Butler away, Vanderburgh moving from third base to shortstop and Wallace making her first start at the hot corner.
“Their first four batters bunted in the first inning, so I moved Wallace up halfway,” Dixon said. “They tried only one more bunt after that. She acquitted herself well.
“So did Vanderburgh.”
The Lady Bisons will take on Mountain League Allegheny Division front-runner Central (10-2) Friday at 4:15 p.m. at the Bison Sports Complex.
See photos of the game here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsSBall042612.html
CLEARFIELD — 12
Robyn McBride rf 5141, Melinda Owens 2b 5210, Rachel Hoffman dp 4232, B.J. Bowman cf 4223, Heather Picard p 5112, Lucy Kovalick c 4130, Becca Byerly 1b 2110, Nellie Wallace 3b 4110, Megan Vanderburgh ss 3111, Tristan Lewis lf (flex) 0000. TOTALS: 36 12 17 10.
JUNIATA — 3
Kristen Pray ss 4110, Toni Cisney 3b-p 4100, Micheh Horning cf 3112, Alesha Reed lf 3000, Tiffany Shoop c 3011, Alyssa Graybill 1b 3000, Hayley Colyer dp 3010, Brandi Ranck rf 2000, Madalynn Marrone rf 0000, Megan Shoop 2b 3000, Maddie Zendt p-3b (flex) 0000. TOTALS: 28 3 4 3.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 220 700 1 – 12 17 3
Juniata 300 000 0 – 3 4 2
Errors – Picard, Byerly, Vanderburgh; Graybill 2, M. Shoop. DP – Juniata 1 (Pray and M. Shoop). LOB – Clearfield 9; Juniata 5. 2B – Hoffman, Kovalick. HR – Bowman (3). Sac – Byerly, Vanderburgh. SB – Pray, Horning.
Pitching
Clearfield – Picard 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K.
Juniata – Zendt 5 IP, 13 H, 11 R, 9 ER, 3 BB, 1 K; Cisney 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.
WP – Zendt 1.
W – Picard (2-4). L – Zendt.
Lady Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/26 | @ Bellefonte | 1 – 11 | 0 – 1 |
| 3/28 | MIFFLIN COUNTY | 0 – 10 | 0 – 2 |
| 3/30 | @ Penns Valley | 0 – 1 | 0 – 3 |
| 4/04 | @ Huntingdon | 9 – 1 | 1 – 3 |
| 4/09 | @ Central | 3 – 9 | 1 – 4 |
| 4/11 | TYRONE | 7 – 1 | 2 – 4 |
| 4/13 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 1 – 11 | 2 – 5 |
| 4/16 | @ Central Mountain | 1 – 3 | 2 – 6 |
| 4/20 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 8 – 0 | 3 – 6 |
| 4/23 | @ Juniata | ppd. | 3 – 6 |
| 4/25 | HUNTINGDON | 8 – 7, 8 inn. | 4 – 6 |
| 4/26 | @ Juniata | 12 – 3 | 5 – 6 |
| 4/27 | CENTRAL |
