Bald Eagle Area Softball Tops Clearfield, 3-2

WINGATE – The Lady Eagles of Bald Eagle Area High School were able to defeat the Lady Bison of Clearfield on Monday evening by a final score of 3-2. With the win, Bald Eagle Area sweeps Clearfield in the 2021 season series.

It was a two run home half of the first inning that helped the Lady Eagles take an early lead that they would not relinquish in the game. Mara Hockenberry of Bald Eagle Area kicked off the bottom of the first with a single to third. She then stole second with Mckena Baney at the plate who came through with a bunt single that brought in Hockenberry to open the scoring.

With a 1-0 lead early in the game, the Lady Eagles looked to expand the lead which they did with two outs. Baney moved up to second via a stolen base and later scored on a clutch two out single by Autumn Tobias to extend the lead to 2-0.

Clearfield was able to get one back in the top of the third as Emma Hipps singled to short with two outs and stole second with Lauren Ressler at the plate. Ressler would deliver with a two out double to left to make it a 2-1 ball game.

The bottom of the fourth saw the Lady Eagles extend the lead back to two as Maddie Peters reached on an infield hit and later advance to second on a sacrifice bunt from Tobias. Peters would score the game’s fourth run thanks to an RBI single to right field from Maddie Perry with two outs to make it 3-1 in favor of Bald Eagle Area.

The Lady Bison would not go away quietly as they scored their second run in the top of the fifth inning. Ressler smacked her second double of the game to get the one out rally started. Ressler leads the program in doubles this season with nine and is currently hitting .476 through 12 games. Olivia Bender was up next and walked to put two on with one away in the visiting team’s half of the fifth.

Alaina Fedder was up next and was able to reach on an error which would allow Ressler to come around and score to make it a 3-2 ball game. On the play, Bender was out trying to advance to third, but Fedder did move up into scoring position to put the tying run in scoring position with two away. Unfortunately, the Lady Bison could not knot the score and trailed 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Hipps was able to retire six of the last seven batters she faced, but Clearfield could not push across a third run as they fell to Bald Eagle Area by a count of 3-2. The loss drops Clearfield to 7-5 overall in 2021.

Positive takeaways from Monday afternoon’s game included Hipps, Ressler, Alexis Benton, and Alexis Bumbarger each collecting two hits each with Kylee Hertlein adding a ninth total hit for the Lady Bison. Hipps is also up to 114 strikeouts in 58 innings in the circle in 2021 as she continues to build on the all-time punch-out record in Clearfield softball history.

The Lady Bison will look to snap a recent skid Tuesday evening as they head to Huntingdon to take on the Lady Bearcats. Clearfield defeated Huntingdon 9-3 in the first game of the season series back on April 16 and will look to go for the season sweep over the fellow Mountain League program.

CLEARFIELD – 2

Ruby Singleton (CF) 4000, Emma Hipps (P) 4120, Lauren Ressler (1B) 4121, Olivia Bender (C) 2000, Anna Twigg (PR) 0000, Alaina Fedder (SS) 4000, Alexis Benton (RF) 3020, Alexis Bumbarger (3B) 3020, Morgan Cheek (LF) 3000, Kylee Hertlein (2B) 3010, TOTALS 30 2 9 1.

Batting

2B: Kylee Hertlein, Lauren Ressler 2
TB: Alexis Benton 2, Kylee Hertlein 2, Lauren Ressler 4, Alexis Bumbarger 2, Emma Hipps 2
RBI: Lauren Ressler
ROE: Alaina Fedder
SB: Emma Hipps

BALD EAGLE AREA – 3

Mara Hockenberry (CF) 3110, Mckena Baney (LF) 3111, Ava Stere (1B) 3000, Maddie Peters (P) 3110, Autumn Tobias (3B) 3011, Kaitlyn Smithchko (2B) 3000, Maddie Perry (SS) 2011, Meghan King (C) 2000, Maddie Eckley (RF) 2000, TOTALS 24 3 5 3.

Batting

TB: Baney, Hockenberry, Peters, Tobias, Perry
RBI: Baney, Tobias, Perry
SB: Baney, Hockenberry

Score By Inning

Clearfield 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
Bald Eagle Area 2 0 0 1 0 0 X

Pitching

Clearfield Emma Hipps 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K.

Bald Eagle Area Maddie Peters 7 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K.

W – Maddie Peters (2-0). L – Emma Hipps (5-5).