BROCKWAY – A season that certainly didn\’t unfold the way the Clearfield Area High School softball team anticipated naturally didn\’t end the in the manner the Lady Bisons had hoped Monday.
An impressive 4-0 win over Punxsutawney for the District 9 championship had Clearfield poised to make a run in the 2007 PIAA Class AAA Playoffs.
However, District 7 runner-up Elizabeth Forward had the same plans going into the first round game. And the Lady Warriors had Lindsey Smith.
The sophomore righthander kept the Lady Bisons off balance with an outstanding change-up in hurling a two-hitter as the Lady Warriors advanced with an impressive 7-1 win at the Brockway Area High School Field. Smith struck out seven and walked three.
In addition to having troubles at the plate, Clearfield also was guilty of a season-high five errors, but only two of the runs charged to loser Mandy Rowles were unearned.
\”When you get in the state playoffs, every team deserves to be there,\” Lady Bisons coach Bob Dixon said. You have a bad game, you’re not gonna be around for the next one. That’s what happened to us. We just did not play well.\”
Because of soaking rains Sunday night and Monday morning, the start of the game was delayed 50 minutes while District 9 officials and the host school\’s groundskeeper and several students completed a roughly two-hour task of getting the diamond ready for play.
Dixon downplayed any effect the wait might have had on his team\’s performance.
\”Both teams had to wait,\” he said. \”If it hurt us, it hurt them. That wasn\’t the reason (we lost). It was just one of those games.\”
The first inning proved to be an omen for the Lady Bisons when Alanna Luzier led off with a high fly that drifted away from Lady Warrior left fielder Tori Paterra near the foul line, resulting in a triple.
Two strikeouts and an infield pop-up later, Luzier still was perched at third.
Dixon saw that as a micorcosm of Clearfield\’s 11-10 season that included eight losses by one run.
\”There were a lot of games where we\’d get people on base, and we just could not bring \’em in,\” he lamented. \”When you don\’t bring them in, it changes the complexion of the game. You have a leadoff triple and everybody\’s up on the edge of their seats. And then it just fades. That hurt us. All of a sudden, you\’re losing and you\’re down a little bit.\”
The second of three pivotal innings was the third when the third and fourth Lady Bison miscues, both after two outs, were followed by designated player Angelica Dull\’s two-run double to the gap in right center.
Elizabeth Forward, now 18-4, increased the margin to 5-0 in the top of the fourth. After Jen McLay and Hilary Holets rapped sharp singles through the middle, Paterra whacked a triple to deep right for two RBI and then scored on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the inning, the Lady Bisons broke up the shutout and might have really tightened the score were it not for a superb running catch by center fielder Priscilla Lamb. With one out, Rowles reached based on an error and Brittany Pataky walked. One out later, Alyssa Anderson looped a single to center to drive in courtesy runner Ashley Condon. Lamb then ranged toward right center for a web gem on Megan Butler\’s drive that would have made it 5-2 or, possibly, 5-3.
The outcome never was in doubt after that. Lamb\’s swinging bunt and McLay\’s line drive double to left center produced a run in the fifth and Kristen Hawkins\’ double to dead center and Lamb\’s single to left accounted for the final run in the seventh for the Lady Warriors, who collected nine hits off Rowles after being held to two by Belle Vernon\’s Ashley Nichols in their 3-1 WPIAL title game loss.
\”I thought that if we had a few more hits, we\’d have won that ball game, and I just reminded them that they are hitters, that they are players and that they can do this, and not to be down,\” Lady Warrior coach Chris Estadt said. \”Their goal today was to come alive, and they sure did. Everybody was pretty fired up for this game.\”
Anderson walked and Butler reached base on an error for Clearfield with one out in the seventh, but an infield fly and a forceout raised the Lady Bisons\’ total of stranded runners to six.
\”You\’ve gotta have clutch hits, and we just didn\’t have them,\” Dixon said. \”We did not hit well at all.\”
He attributed a lot of that to Smith\’s pitching, saying, \”She was effective with (the change-up). She was on her game.\”
The Lady Warriors play with poise that belies their youth. Smith and catcher Hawkins are two of three sophomore starters, while Paterra, Dull and Lamb are only freshmen.
Elizabeth Forward, which scored all of its runs with two outs, probably hit Rowles as hard as any team has this season.
\”I think Mandy was missing her spots a little bit,\” Dixon said. \”You make mistakes against some of these hitters, they\’re gonna eat you up. The two runs (in the second) might have hurt Mandy a little bit, took a little edge off her.
\”She\’s only a sophomore. She\’s a good kid. She\’s a battler. Hopefully, we\’ll work over the summer and the winter, and we\’ll make her better.
\”We return seven starters next year and some good kids coming from junior high, so we\’ll be back.\”
Graduation will claim shortstop Nikki Collins and first baseman Pataky, backup pitcher Toni Brubaker (4-1) and reserve outfielder Mallory Janocko, whose playing time was limited because of a knee injury she suffered in the Lady Bison basketball team\’s final game.
Collins and Pataky, one-two in hitting, are four-year letterwinners who will be playing college ball next spring at Slippery Rock and Lock Haven, respectively.
ELIZABETH FORWARD – 7
Tori Paterra lf-rf 4112, Brittany Bruce ss 3100, Kristen Hawkins c 4210, Angelic Dull dp 4012, Erin Lawnizak 3b 4000, Priscilla Lamb cf 4121, Jen McLay 2b 3131, Hilary Holets 1b 4110, Lindsey Smith p 2000, Taylor Reese ph 1000, Destiny Roehrig (flex) rf-pr-lf 0000. TOTALS: 33 7 9 6.
CLEARFIELD – 1
Alanna Luzier 2b 4010, Ashley Lias cf 3000, Nikki Collins ss 3000, Mandy Rowles p 3100, Brittany Pataky 1b 2000, Julie Colesar lf 3000, Alyssa Anderson rf 1011, Megan Butler 3b 3000, Kenzie McGovern c 2000, Mallory Janocko ph 1000. TOTALS: 25 1 2 1.
Score by Innings:
Elizabeth Forward 002 210 1 – 7 9 2
Clearfield 000 100 0 – 1 2 5
Errors – Bruce, McLay; Collins, Pataky, Butler 3. PB – McGovern 1. DP – Clearfield 1 (McGovern and Butler). LOB – Elizabeth Forward 7; Clearfield 6. 2B – Hawkins, Dull, McLay. 3B – Paterra; Luzier. Sac – McLay.
Pitching
Elizabeth Forward – Smith 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K.
Clearfield – Rowles 7 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 K.
WP – Rowles 3.
W – Smith (18-4). L – Rowles (7-9).
Time of game – 1:23.
Umpires – Denny Copenhaver (home), Bill Overly (first), Barry Tryzna (second), Ron Dolby (third).