PHILIPSBURG — Being competitive in every game was one of second-year coach Derek Danver’s goals for his very young Clearfield Area High School softball team, and the Lady Bison are beginning to show why he had that confidence in them.
On the heels of a big win over previously-undefeated Tyrone Thursday, the Lady Bison hung with defending PIAA Class AAA champion and perennial Mountain League power Philipsburg-Osceola Saturday.
The Lady Mounties prevailed, 3-1, behind the pitching and hitting of Kam Harris, but only once in 15 previous meetings since Clearfield joined the ML in 2011 was a final margin that close.
That was due to a third consecutive solid performance in the circle by freshman Emma Hipps, who authored a four-hitter with sevven strikeouts and only one walk.
“That might be the best game she’s thrown this year,” Danver said. “The difference was one pitch in the first inning. After that, she battled the rest of the game. She threw a great game.”
The offering he referred to was deposited over the left field fence by Harris for what proved to be the game-winning hit.
Her fourth home run of the young season drove in Madison Lucas, aboard via a pop fly single behind first base.
P-O’s only other hits were Kyle Adams’ sharp single through the left side in the second inning and Harris’ double off third baseman Casey English’s glove in the fifth after the Lady Mounties had added the insurance run on a Lucas groundout that plated Kendra Carns.
“We played some pretty good defense behind Emma,” Danver said.
Harris allowed five hits in her third win for the 4-0 Lady Mounties, who are all alone atop the league once again.
She retired 12 of the last 13 batters she faced, finishing the strong outing with nine strikeouts and no walks.
Hipps accounted for the Lady Bison marker with a home run, her second, that easily cleared the fence in center in the fourth inning.
Karly Rumsky singled twice for the Lady Bison.
“I though we hit the ball fairly well against a really good pitcher,” Danver said. “That girl pitched in the state championship last year. And we had a number of freshmen out there battling with her.”
Danver did take issue with one aspect of the Lady Bison’s effort.
“We’re 2-1 in the fifth inning with one of the best teams around, and I don’t know what I need to do to get them excited about that,” he said. “Just some things we did defensively, a couple of mental errors, like our head’s not in the game.”
Everything else except the ‘L’ was positive.
“I told them we can’t lose confidence over that,” Danver said. “You’ve gotta really look at the big picture and realize how great a game we did play.”
The Lady Bison (2-2) will journey to Spring Mills Tuesday to take on Penns Valley in the first of four games in as many days next week.
Mountain League standings – Philipsburg-Osceola 4-0, Bald Eagle Area 3-1, Tyrone 3-1, Central 3-1, Clearfield 1-2, Penns Valley 1-3, Huntingdon 0-3, Bellefonte 0-4.
CLEARFIELD — 1
Karly Rumsky cf 3020, Morgan Cheek lf 2000, Emma Hipps p 3111, Olivia Bender c 3000, Lauren Ressler 1b 3010, Kyra Mollura rf 3000, Casey English 3b 2000, Alyssa Twigg 3b 1000, Alexis Benton dp 2000, Kylee Hertlein 2b 1000, Alexis Bumbarger ss 2010. TOTALS: 25 1 5 1.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 3
Jordan McDonald ss 3000, Madison Lucas rf 3111, Kam Harris p 2122, Hannah Minarchick cr 0000; Makayla Williams dp 2000, London Cutler 2b 0000, Roselyn Weaver 1b 3000, Rachel Simpson 3b 3000, Adria Lewis c 2000, Paige Jarrett ph 1000, Kylie Adams lf 2010. TOTALS: 23 3 4 3.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 000 100 0 – 1 5 2
Philipsburg-Osceola 200 010 x – 3 4 0
E – Ressler, Bumbarger. DP – Clearfield 1 (Ressler unassisted). LOB – Clearfield 4; Philipsburg-Osceola 4. 2B – Harris. HR – Hipps (2); Harris (4). SB – Minarchick 2.
Pitching
Clearfield – Hipps 6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K.
Philipsburg-Osceola – Harris 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K.
HB – Hipps 1 (Carns). WP – Hipps 2.
W – Harris (3-0). L – Hipps (2-2).
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
4/10 HUNTINGDON
4/11 BRADFORD
4/12 CENTRAL
4/15 @ Bellefonte
4/18 @ Bald Eagle Area
4/23 @ Huntingdon
4/26 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA
4/29 @ Tyrone
5/02 PENNS VALLEY
5/07 @ Central
5/08 HOLLIDAYSBURG
5/10 BELLEFONTE
5/13 @ Punxsutawney
5/15 @ Altoona
