HYDE — Another dominating pitching performance by freshman Emma Hipps and a 10-run outburst in the first inning propelled the Clearfield Area High School softball team past Brookville in District 9 Class AAA semifinal action at the Bison Sports Complex Wednesday afternoon.
Morgan Cheek, Olivia Bender and Kylee Hertlein led the hit parade with three apiece in the 12-0 victory that earned the No. 2-seeded Lady Bison a date with top seed Karns City (16-1) in the championship game next Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Heindl Field in DuBois.
The Mercy Rule was invoked after Hipps logged her 200th strikeout of the season to close out the fifth inning.
Hipps simply overpowered the Lady Raiders to the tune of 13 strikeouts in her 10th win, which clinched Clearfield’s first winning record since 2008 at 11-9.
Brookville (10-10) put the ball in play only four times, with the lone hits an infield single by Carlie McManigle in the first inning and a solid double to right center by Leah Kammerdeiner in the fourth.
Hipps’ double-digit strikeout total was her 13th in 19 starts.
After her lone walk to Kammerdeiner leading off the second inning, Hipps proceeded to fire strikes on 20 of her next 22 pitches, including 14 in a row while ringing up six consecutive strikeouts before whiffing three of Lady Raiders in the fourth.
“She was phenomenal out there,” Lady Bison coach Derek Danver said. “She was throwing with some movement, and she was throwing hard.
“She did what she’s been doing all year, giving us opportunities to win every game.”
Hipps has pitched under pressure in most outings, but her teammates made sure that wouldn’t be the case against the Lady Raiders with their rally in the bottom of the first inning.
Cheek and Bender each delivered two of the eight hits off McManigle that, coupled with five Brookville errors that made seven of the 10 runs unearned, left only the final score in doubt.
The big blows were Lauren Ressler’s two-run triple to center field and Bender’s two-run double to left. Cheek, Hertlein and Hipps had RBI hits, the latter with a double.
“They gave us a couple more outs, but we still hit the ball hard that inning,” Danver said.
Leadoff batter Karly Rumsky drove in the final two runs with a sacrifice fly in the second frame and her second hit in the fourth.
“All through the lineup, we did a great job hitting the ball hard, and we found some holes as well,” said Danver, who was especially pleased to see Hertlein go 3-for-3 at the plate from the No. 9 hole.
He added, “Huge day for Kylee. She didn’t have the regular season that she wanted, but we talked (Tuesday) in practice that this is a new season. It started today, and she’s got the highest batting average (1.000).”
Checking off the team’s first goal, a winning season, made the win even more special for the second-year coach.
“We focused on today’s game, and we did what we needed to do,” Danver said. “We’re guaranteed to be above .500 now. Our second goal is to win a district championship, and we put ourselves in a place to do that.”
BROOKVILLE — 0
Lauren Hergert ss 2000, Aleah Ames 1b 2000, Carlie McManigle p 2010, Megrah Suhan c 2000, Leah Kammerdeiner 2b 1010, Julie MacWilliams 3b 2000, Ashton Pangallo cf 2000, Tayler Rafferty lf 2000, Regan Ganoe rf 2000. TOTALS: 17 0 2 0.
CLEARFIELD — 12
Karly Rumsky cf 3122, Morgan Cheek lf 4231, Emma Hipps p 4211, Olivia Bender c 3132, Alyssa Twigg cr 0000, Lauren Ressler 1b 3112, Kyra Mollura ss 3110, Casey English 3b 3100, Alexis Benton rf 2100, Kylee Hertlein 2b 3231. TOTALS: 28 12 14 9.
Score by Innings
Brookville 0 00 00 – 0 0 6
Clearfield (10)10 1x – 12 14 0
E – Hergert 2, Ames 2, McManigle, Pangallo. PB – Suhan. DP – Brookville 1 (Ganoe and Hergert). LOB – Brookville 3; Clearfield 6. 2B – Kammerdeiner; Hipps, Bender. 3B – Ressler. SF – Rumsky. SB – Kammerdeiner; Twigg, Hertlein.
Pitching
Brookville – McManigle 4 IP, 14 H, 12 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
Clearfield – Hipps 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 13 K.
W – Hipps (10-8). L – McManigle (9-9).
Umpires – Ed Fleeson (plate), Neil McIsaac (first base), Doug Metheney (second base) and Terry Jackson (third base).
Lady Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
3/26 BALD EAGLE AREA 2 – 17 0 – 1
3/29 HUNTINGDON ppd. 0 – 1
4/01 @ Philipsburg-Osceola ppd. 0 – 1
4/02 CURWENSVILLE 9 – 1 1 – 1
4/04 TYRONE 7 – 5 2 – 1
4/06 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 1 – 3 2 – 2
4/09 @ Penns Valley 3 – 4 2 – 3
4/10 HUNTINGDON 11 – 1 3 – 3
4/11 BRADFORD 15 – 3 4 – 3
4/12 CENTRAL ppd. 4 – 3
4/15 @ Bellefonte ppd. 4 – 3
4/16 CENTRAL 4 – 1 5 – 3
4/18 @ Bald Eagle Area 0 – 9 5 – 4
4/22 @ Glendale 2 – 6, 9 inn. 5 – 5
4/23 @ Huntingdon 9 – 4 6 – 5
4/26 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA ppd. 6 – 5
4/29 @ Tyrone 0 – 1 6 – 6
4/30 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 1 – 4 6 – 7
5/02 PENNS VALLEY 4 – 1 7 – 7
5/06 @ Bellefonte 7 – 1 8 – 7
5/07 @ Central 2 – 6 8 – 8
5/08 HOLLIDAYSBURG 10 – 1 9 – 8
5/10 BELLEFONTE cancelled 9 – 8
5/13 @ Punxsutawney ppd. 9 – 8
5/14 @ Punxsutawney ppd. 9 – 8
5/15 @ Altoona 9 – 4 10 – 8
5/17 @ Punxsutawney 0 – 1, 8 inn. 10 – 9
5/22 District 9 AAA Playoffs
5/22 BROOKVILLE 12 – 0 11 – 9
5/29 Karns City @ DuBois