|
|
|
|
Five-run fifth lifts Lady Chucks past Clearfield |
|
|
|
Wednesday, 09 May 2007 |
 Punxsy left fielder Allie Miller (right) scores Punxsy's sixth run of the game while Clearfield pitcher Mandy Rowles mistakenly steps on Miller's hand attempting the tag in Punxsy's 6-3 win Tuesday. Miller returned to left field the next inning. (Photo by Brian Pakutz)
PUNXSUTAWNEY - If the Punxsy softball team was in the midst of a hitting slump, it certainly broke out of it Tuesday.
Nicole Cappella's two-run single started a five-run fifth inning that carried the Lady Chucks to a 6-3 win over Clearfield at home.
"It was nice to see," Punxsy head coach Alan Pifer. "Good teams - sooner or later - are going to come out (slumps). It's a matter of plugging away. It was real big to get their confidence back against a quality opponent."
The Lady Chucks (12-2) registered three hits in the first three innings, but stranded five runners before the huge fifth inning.
Tiffany DuPont led off with a walk, while Katie Baun bunted DuPont over to second base. A Lauren Martino single between second and third base gave Punxsy runners at the corners with one out.
Once Martino stole second base, Cappella ripped a two-run single to left field. The Clearfield left fielder, who was attempting to throw out Martino at home, gunned the ball past the catcher, which helped Cappella trot to second base.
That's when Brooke Callen ripped her second-straight hit, and this time, it drove a runner in to give Punxsy its first lead of the game at 4-3.
Tina Elgin, who was pinch-hitting for Allie Miller, swung and missed at strike three, but the catcher dropped the ball. The ball bounced all the way to the backstop, and that allowed Elgin to reach first base safely.
Noelle Janocha hit an RBI ground out, and Samantha Reitz reached on a fielder's choice to score the fifth runner of the inning.
"I told the girls, 'If you hit before, you're going to hit again,'" Pifer said. "'Just don't dwell on it; don't cloud your head with too much information up there at the plate. If you start thinking too much, then you're not concentrating on the pitcher and the ball, which is what you need to do.'
"I don't know if all of them are out of (their slumps) yet, but we're starting to," he said.
Clearfield, on the other hand, scored very early in the game.
Alanna Luzier singled to start the game before Nikki Collins ripped a one-out, RBI double into the right-center field gap. Two batters later, Brittany Pataky hit a ball that bounced off Janocha's glove to bring home Collins.
Punxsy was able to cut the lead in half in the fourth inning.
Callen ripped a double over the center fielder's head to breathe some life into the Lady Chucks.
"Brooke hit the ball well today," Pifer said. "She had really been struggling, and it was nice to see her come along with the bat today."
Two batters later, Janocha doubled off the right field wall, nearly clearing the fence for her second home run of the season. The double allowed Callen to score Punxsy's first run of the game.
Clearfield was able to regain the two-run lead on an RBI single by Pataky in the top of the fifth, but the Lady Chucks answered with the five-run fifth.
Callen started and finished the game on the mound for Punxsy. While she had a rocky first inning, she adjusted well enough to hold the Lady Bisons to one run in the final six innings.
"Brooke struggled a little bit with her spots today - more than she normally does," Pifer said. "But it did seem like the longer she went in the game, the stronger she got, which is nice to see."
Clearfield ripped 10 hits on the senior, who walked one and struck out three.
"A couple of their hits were hard, but a lot of them weren't," Pifer said. "They were just like seeing-eye singles through the infield, or a little bloop somewhere."
Clearfield's Mandy Rowles pitched all six innings, while allowing six earned runs. Rowles had two walks and three Ks. Punxsy scorched six hits, but none were more important than the three hits in the fifth inning.
"We did a lot of things that we wanted to do against them on offense," Pifer said. "They're a good team, and Rowles is a good pitcher."
Punxsy and Clearfield have now split the season series, as each team has won at home. Pifer knows they'll meet again in the playoffs.
"They're going to bounce back, and I'm sure we're going to see them in the playoffs. I'd be shocked if we didn't," he said. "We're going to have to come ready to play again, because they know what we can do, and we know what they can do."
Game No. 3 of four games in four days will take place in Punxsutawney against DuBois Central Catholic at 4:15 p.m. today.
After that, the Lady Chucks will travel to DuBois Thursday. |
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 May 2007 )
|
|
|
|
