CURWENSVILLE — Abby Fedder pitched a four-hitter and Brooke Cline drove in five runs as the veteran Clearfield Area High School softball team ushered in what the Lady Bison hope will be a turnaround season with a 14-2 victory over Curwensville at Riverside Field Monday afternoon.
The Lady Bison’s bats were sizzling from the start with Cline drilling a run-scoring double to right center and trotting home when Aspen Bishop smashed a home run over the center field fence for all the runs Fedder would need.
They went on to pound out 18 hits, few of them cheapies and six for extra bases, in first-year coach Derek Danver’s initial win that was stopped after six innings because of the Mercy Rule.
“We have a lot of good bats the whole way through the order, top to bottom,” Danver said. “Aspen goes out in the first inning and crushes the ball, something I knew she was going to do this year. And we had some other girls that had great days. All around, a real good performance offensively.”
Cline, working on her fourth letter as a fixture at shortstop, led the hit parade with three singles and a double.
Fedder aided her own cause with three singles and a pair of RBIs, while Bishop, Karly Rumsky, Makayla Ross and Lindsay Hand contributed two hits apiece.
Rumsky, Ross and Kate Lansberry socked doubles, and Erica Hanes ripped a triple, the first of her career.
“Their lineup is tough,” Curwensville coach Allen Leigey said. “From one through five, they’re pretty solid. They all hit a ton.
“I knew going in that we probably were overmatched, but I was hoping for a little better result.”
On a bright note, he was pleased to see the Lady Tide answer the Lady Bison’s 3-0 start in the bottom of the first inning.
“We came in and we got two, so we were still in the game, and that was important,” he said. “We could have chucked it right there.”
One of Clearfield’s three misplays, a walk, Lauren Tozer’s sacrifice fly and Ariel Zattoni’s RBI single made it a one-run game.
Hits by Mackenzie Anderson on a grounder through the left side and Keisha Maines on a looper behind the circle filled the sacks before Fedder induced a threat-ending groundout.
“The first inning, we had the jitters a little bit,” Danver said. “I brought them together and said, ‘Hey, take a deep breath. We got that out of the way. Let’s play softball the we know how to play now. Trust what we’ve been doing the last couple months getting ready for this day.’
“Abby started throwing strikes, and our defense started playing well behind her. Everybody kind of settled in after that first inning.”
Fedder sure did, allowing only one more hit and one more walk in cruising to the complete-game win, winding up with three strikeouts and two free passes.
Two other Lady Tide runners reaching on errors.
None of the four touched third base.
“We kept the ball in play and we weren’t striking out, which is a good start,” Leigey said. “You want to make sure they have to make a play, one way or the other.“
Clearfield expanded the lead in every inning except the third, when second baseman Maines turned a grounder into a double play.
The Lady Bison made it 5-2 in the second on Cline’s sharp single to center that chased home Hand and Rumsky, who were aboard on hits.
Leigey felt the Lady Tide still were in the non-league game at that point and relieved starter Rachel LeGars with Abby Pentz.
However, the freshman wasn’t able to cool off the Clearfield bats, either.
The Lady Bison put threes on the scoreboard in the next two at-bats.
Cline and Ross singled across runs ahead of Fedder’s RBI groundout that pushed the lead to 8-2 in the fourth.
Hard-hit, back-to-back extra-base blows by Rumsky and Hanes for RBIs and Cline’s fifth RBI on a groundout had the visitors on the brink of an early finish after five.
They made that a reality against LeGars, who returned to the circle in the sixth, as Fedder, Hand and Kirstin Norman came through with run-scoring hits.
“They have a really nice lineup,” Leigey said. “Just tip your hat to ‘em and move on.”
Defensive gems were turned in by the Lady Bison’s Rumsky, who ranged back to deep center field for a running, backhanded grap of Bailey Bloom’s towering drive in the fifth inning, and the Lady Tide second baseman Maines, who speared Lansberry’s wicked liner to end the top of the fourth.
Both teams will be back in action Tuesday, weather permitting, with Clearfield hosting Central in its Mountain League opener and Curwensville traveling to Brockway for an Allegheny Mountain League game.
CLEARFIELD — 14
Karly Rumsky cf 4321, Erica Hanes c 5211, Brooke Cline ss 5245, Aspen Bishop lf 4222, Makayla Ross 4121, Abby Fedder p 4132, Kate Lansberry dp 4110, Lindsay Hand rf 3121, Kyra Mollura 3b 2000, Kirstin Norman ph-3b 1111, Mackenzie Lansberry 2b (flex) 0000. TOTALS: 36 14 18 14.
CURWENSVILLE — 2
Sabrina Spencer 3b-ss-3b 3110, Abby Pentz ss-p-ss 2100, Bailey Bloom c 3000, Lauren Tozer 1b 2001, Ariel Zattoni lf 3011, Mackenzie Anderson dp 2010, Olivia McGarry pr 0000, Keisha Maines 2b 2010, Kelsi Bumbarger ph 1000, Anne Hoover cf 3000, Erica Buck rf 1000, Ally Hess ph-rf 2000, Rachel LeGars p (flex) 0000, Emma Caldwell 3b (flex) 0000. TOTALS: 24 2 4 2.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 320 333 – 14 18 3
Curwensville 200 000 – 2 4 2
E – Mollura, M. Lansberry 2; Zattoni, Buck. PB – Hanes 2. DP – Curwensville 1 (Maines and Tozer). LOB – Clearfield 8; Curwensville 7. 2B – Rumsky, Cline, Ross, K. Lansberry. 3B – Hanes. HR – Bishop (1). SF – Tozer. SB – Rumsky, Hand; Spencer.
Pitching
Clearfield – Fedder 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
Curwensville – LeGars 4 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; Pentz 2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
WP – Fedder 1; Pentz 2.
W – Fedder (1-0). L – LeGars (0-1).
Umpires – Jim Pullman (plate) and Jay Siegel (bases).
