CLEARFIELD – Down, but not out. The Lady Bison trailed at times, but they rose to the occasion to keep their undefeated season alive in a 6-5 thiller against recent rival Bald Eagle Area. The win is the second of the season against the Lady Eagles as the Lady Bison completed a season sweep of the Mountain League opponent in dramatic fashion.
Trailing 3-1 early in the game, Clearfield found a way to knot the score at three all in the bottom of the fifth as strangely, all of the runs from the Lady Bison came in odd numbered innings.
Lauren Ressler set the all-time Lady Bison record for doubles in a career in the bottom of the fifth as her RBI double scored Hipps to tie it at three. After a two-out sacrifice-fly from Bald Eagle made it a one run advantage, the Lady Bison would go into the bottom of the seventh needing one run to keep the game alive.
Clearfield would answer that challenged as Olivia Bender singled to score Hipps and force extra innings. A scoreless eighth made for a dramatic ninth inning as Bald Eagle would pull ahead 5-4 going into the bottom of the ninth.
Olivia Bender came through again and led off the home half of the ninth with a double to center to put a Lady Bison in scoring position with nobody out.
Alaina Fedder was next and sent the home faithful happy with a two-run homer to left to give Clearfield win number eight in a row to begin an incredible start to the 2022 softball season.
In the circle, Emma Hipps went the distance and struck out 18 Lady Eagle hitters to earn win number eight of the year. She supported her own cause with three hits for the game, with teammates Ruby Singleton and Kylee Hertlein also recording multi-hit games of their own in the winning effort.
The win now sees Clearfield improve to 6-0 in Mountain League play.
Clearfield will be back in action on Saturday, April 30 as they take on reigning District 6 champion Glendale in the opening round of the Portage softball tournament at 11:00 a.m. With a victory, Clearfield will play the winner of Central Cambria and Portage in the championship contest slated for Saturday evening.
BALD EAGLE AREA – 5
Eckert (C) 4110, Stere (RF) 5010, Ubeati (PR) 0100, Tobias (3B) 5133, Housel (PR) 0000, Smithcko (LF) 4110, Vozniak (PR) 0000, Shawley (DP 4001, Perry (SS) 3021, Serb (1B) 4000, Thompson (2B) 4000, Habovick (CF) 4110, Albright (P) 0000. TOTALS 37 5 9 5.
Batting
HR: Tobias
TB: Eckert, Stere, Tobias 6, Perry, Habovick, Smitchko
RBI: Shawley, Tobias 3, Perry
SF: Shawley
ROE: Shawley, Perry, Smitchko
FC: Shawley
SB: Eckert, Habovick
CLEARFIELD – 6
Ruby Singleton (CF) 5120, Emma Hipps (P) 5330, Lauren Ressler (1B) 5022 Olivia Bender (C) 4121, Paige Houser (PR) 0000, Alaina Fedder (SS) 5112, Alexis Benton (RF) 3000, Kylee Hertlein (2B) 4020, Alexis Bumbarger (3B) 4010, Alexis Cole (LF) 3000, Anna Twigg (LF) 1000. TOTALS 39 6 13 5.
Batting
2B: Olivia Bender, Emma Hipps, Lauren Ressler
HR: Alaina Fedder
TB: Olivia Bender 3, Alexis Bumbarger, Alaina Fedder 4, Kylee Hertlein 2, Emma Hipps 4, Lauren Ressler 3, Ruby Singleton 2
RBI: Olivia Bender, Alaina Fedder 2, Lauren Ressler 2
FC: Alexis Bumbarger, Emma Hipps, Lauren Ressler 2
SB: Emma Hipps, Ruby Singleton
Fielding
E: Alaina Fedder 2, Kylee Hertlein
Score by Inning
Bald Eagle Area 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 1.
Clearfield 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2.
Pitching
Bald Eagle Area
Sierra Albright
8 IP, 13 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HR.
Clearfield
Emma Hipps 9 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 18 K, 1 HR.
W – Emma Hipps (8-0). L – Sierra Albright