JOHNSONBURG – When the bottom half of your lineup scores all of your runs, 10 to be exact, it is going to be a long day for your opponent.
Such was the case Monday afternoon in the District-9 AA playoffs as the Johnsonburg Ramettes girls softball team advanced to the semi-finals with a 10-0 win over the Curwensville Lady Tide in a game shortened by the 10 run mercy in the bottom half of the fifth inning.
All 10 runs for Johnsonburg were scored from the number five hitter through number nine. And nine of those came from hitters six through nine.
And seven of the Ramettes 10 hits came from the bottom five players in the line-up.
Lady Tide head coach Allen Leigey said afterwards, “I told the team if our bats show up we will be in the game. If they don’t, then we won’t. And our bats were quiet all day, getting just one base hit and being shutout against a team we beat last week 13-7 at Curwensville.”
The best chance for the Lady Tide to push runs across was in the second inning when it left the bases loaded.
The two squads went scoreless after one inning, but Curwensville’s Chloe Tubbs started the second by reaching base on a Johnsonburg error.
Tubbs was later erased on a fielder’s choice, but walks to Lauren Tozer and Anne Hoover loaded the sacks. But three fielder’s choices in the inning had Curwensville coming up empty as the lead runners were cut down.
The Ramettes, playing on its home field, decided to make the second inning its biggest of the day, scoring five runs on six hits and two Lady Tide errors.
Winning pitcher Skylar Sherry and Maddie Herzing had the big blows of the inning, each smacking a double.
Curwensville would only get one more runner to third base, catcher Bailey Bloom, in the third inning. But again, no run for the Lady Tide.
Meanwhile Johnsonburg pushed a run across in the third and four more in the bottom of the fifth when the game was called due to the 10 mercy rule coming into play. There was one out in the bottom half of the fifth when the game ended.
The lone hit for the Lady Tide was a single from shortstop Kayley Harnett to lead off the top of the third inning.
Curwensville, plagued by poor defense in a number of games this season, had seven miscues on the day.
Leigey talked about the errors, commenting, “We obviously kicked the ball around way too much to be in the game. We have got to make plays to take them out of innings, and we didn’t do that today.”
Four seniors graduate – Hannah Dixon, Kayley Harnett, Camryn Richards and Chloe Tubbs. Leigey was thankful for having the opportunity to coach them, saying, “I will truly miss these seniors. They are all great kids and most importantly they should do well in the future because of who they are. I am very proud of these girls and wish them nothing but the best.”
The two squads split this year’s two regular season games played, with Johnsonburg winning on April 5, 4-0, and the Lady Tide getting a 13-7 victory on May 15. The wins came on each other’s home field.
Johnsonburg will now battle Cranberry (16-2), the number two seed, on Wednesday afternoon in the semi-finals, at Cranberry, with game time set for 4:30 pm.
The Lady Tide finished the 2017 season with a record of 9-12.
CURWENSVILLE – 0
Hannah Dixon 3b 3000, Kayley Harnett ss 3010, Bailey Bloom c 2000, Camryn Richards rf 2000, Chloe Tubbs dp 2000, Kelsi Bumbarger pr 0000, Ariel Zattoni lf 2000, Lauren Tozer 1b 1000, Alexzandria Zattoni pr 0000, Keisha Maines 2b 2000, Anne Hoover cf 0000, Mackenzie Anderson ph 1000, Clerissia Cole flex/p 0000, Rachel LeGars flex/p 0000, TOTALS – 18 0 1 0
JOHNSONBURG – 10
Nicole Myers ss 4022, Brittney Thorwart 1b 3010, Jaylie Johnson cf 3000, Lindsey Kocjancic rf 3000, Hannah Park c 3110, Jordan Bundy cr 0000, Maria Jones 2b 3210, Skylar Sherry p 3312, Kylee Wall 3b 3222, Maddie Herzing lf 3223, TOTALS – 28 10 10 9
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
CURWENSVILLE 000 00x x 0 1 7
JOHNSONBURG 051 04x x 10 10 3
One out in fifth inning when game was called due to 10 run mercy rule.
ERRORS – Dixon 3, Hoover 2, Harnett, Ar. Zattoni, Myers 2, Wall. LOB – CURWENSVILLE – 6 JOHNSONBURG – 5. 2B – Sherry, Herzing, SB – Sherry.
PITCHING
CURWENSVILLE
Cole 4 1/3 IP, 10 H, 10 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
LeGars 0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2 Illegal pitches
JOHNSONBURG
Sherry 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
WP – Sherry LP – Cole (7-6).
UMPIRES: Neil Mcisaac, Denny Maynard, Jennifer DeFilippi
Final Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 3/27 | BROCKWAY | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/28 | BROCKWAY | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 3/29 | MO VALLEY | 1 – 8 | 0 – 1 |
| 3/30 | BROCKWAY | ppd. | 0 – 1 |
| 4/03 | @ Elk County Catholic | 0 – 4 | 0 – 2 |
| 4/05 | @ Johnsonburg | 0 – 4 | 0 – 3 |
| 4/07 | @ Clearfield | ppd. | 0 – 3 |
| 4/11 | SHEFFIELD | ppd. | 0 – 3 |
| 4/11 | SHEFFIELD | ppd. | 0 – 3 |
| 4/12 | SHEFFIELD | 9 – 2 | 1 – 3 |
| 4/12 | SHEFFIELD | 17 – 0 | 2 – 3 |
| 4/18 | @ Kane | 5 – 9 | 2 – 4 |
| 4/21 | DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH | 1 – 12 | 2 – 5 |
| 4/22 | @ North Star | 15 – 0 | 3 – 5 |
| 4/22 | @ North Star | 8 – 2 | 4 – 5 |
| 4/25 | @ Brockway | 5 – 6 | 4 – 6 |
| 4/27 | HARMONY | 2 – 1 | 5 – 6 |
| 4/28 | WEST BRANCH | 2 – 13 | 5 – 7 |
| 4/29 | @ Clearfield | ppd. | 5 – 7 |
| 5/01 | @ Brookville | ppd. | 5 – 7 |
| 5/02 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | ppd. | 5 – 7 |
| 5/03 | @ Brookville | 0 – 8 | 5 – 8 |
| 5/08 | @ Glendale | 0 – 15 | 5 – 9 |
| 5/10 | @ Clearfield | 4 – 5 | 5 – 10 |
| 5/11 | KANE | 15 – 4 | 6 – 10 |
| 5/15 | JOHNSONBURG | 13 – 7 | 7 – 10 |
| 5/16 | BROCKWAY | 7 – 1 | 8 – 10 |
| 5/16 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | 11 – 10, 8 inn. | 9 – 10 |
| 5/17 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | 0 – 15 | 9 – 11 |
| 5/22 | District 9 AA Quarterfinals | ||
| 5/22 | @ Johnsonburg | 0 – 10 | 9 – 12 |