Nail-biter: Lady Mikes pull out 2-1, 8-inning win over CS in PIAA opener
ERIE – Carys McConnell is known for hitting a softball extremely hard but the Carmichaels sophomore shortstop proved on Monday you don’t always have to crush the ball to be an effective hitter.
McConnell’s bloop single into center field brought in Kaitlyn Waggett from second base with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning and the Lady Mikes held on to defeat District 10 champion Cambridge Springs, 2-1, in their PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Penn State Behrend.
Bailey Barnyak stranded the potential tying run on third base and winning run at first by getting a game-ending strikeout to earn the win for Carmichaels (17-2) which advances to Thursday’s second round. The Mikes will play District 6 champion Claysburg-Kimmel, which beat West Greene, 6-1.
“I have high hopes for this team,” Barnyak said. “I think we can go a lot further.”
Barnyak allowed only one run on a bases-loaded walk on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the sixth inning. The sophomore right-hander stranded the potential winning run at second base in the bottom of the seventh with two strikeouts.
“I’m so proud of this team,” Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs said. “They never give up, they always play hard, they stay with it. They deserved this win today.”
Waggett, who was 2 for 3 with a walk and two stolen bases, reached on a perfectly placed bunt single with one out in the top off the eighth off losing pitcher Kayla Crawford. Barnyak moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt to set the stage for McConnell, who fisted the ball into short center field. Lady Devils second baseman Carly Cunningham reached out and got her glove on the ball but couldn’t pull it in and the throw to home was too late to get the sliding Waggett.
“I hit it off the handle,” McConnell said. “I thought she was going to catch it but then I saw it fall in and was just so happy.”
Waggett admitted the play at home plate wouldn’t have been that close if she hadn’t made a mental mistake.
“I was thinking there was one out so I went back to second and then I see Mr. Briggs throwing his arms around so I started running and he told me to keep going so I didn’t look back I just went home and barrel slid around her,” Waggett said.
“Speed makes up for a lot,” Briggs said. “Carys and Kaitlyn are both so fast. Kaitlyn’s speed helped her beat out that bunt and score on that play. Carys’s speed helped us score that first run.”
The game was scoreless until the fourth when McConnell beat out an infield hit, stole second, took third on a passed ball and scored on Megan Voithofer’s well-executed suicide squeeze bunt to make it 1-0.
“As soon as Megan put the bunt down, she did it so well I knew I was scoring,” McConnell said.
As for her two key hits, McConnell said, “I mean you don’t always have to hit it hard, sometimes you just have to hit it in the right place.”
Cambridge Springs (16-3) scored its only run without hitting a ball out of the infield in the sixth.
Jada Murawski led off the inning with a bunt single, took second on Kylee Miller’s sacrifice bunt and went to third when Jayden Newell bunted through a third strike but reached when the ball tipped off catcher Waggett’s glove and went to the backstop. Triniti Caldwell drew a walk to load the bases and after a strikeout for the second out Quinn Eaglen brought in Murawski with a walk to tie it, 1-1. Barnyak got a groundout to McConnell to end the inning.
The Lady Devils put the winning run in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the seventh when Cunningham walked and went to second on Crawford’s sacrifice bunt before Barnyak got consecutive strikeouts to send the game into extra innings.
After McConnell’s clutch RBI hit, Cambridge Springs threatened again in the bottom of the eighth.
Newell hit a lead-off single to center and went to second on Caldwell’s sacrifice bunt with Barnyak quickly fielding the ball and making a difficult spinning but accurate throw to Voithofer covering first. After Dunton popped out, Eaglen beat out an infield hit with Newell taking third.
Barnyak gathered herself before facing Simmons.
“It’s definitely an intimidating situation but I knew I had my team to back me up so I just took a second, took a deep breath and said alright, let’s get it done,” Barnyak said.
That she did, getting Simmons to strike out swinging.
“It was a high curveball, really good pitch,” Waggett said.
Barnyak allowed five hits and three walks with 16 strikeouts.
Crawford pitched well in defeat, also giving up just five hits with 16 strikeouts. She walked two.
Beside the two hits apiece by McConnell and Waggett, the Mikes only other hit was a two-out single to center by Payton Plavi in the top of the seventh. Avery Voithofer followed with a walk but Crawford escaped the jam with a strikeout.
Waggett also got in scoring position in her first two at bats but Crawford left her stranded both times with strikeouts. Waggett walked to lead off the game, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. In the third she singled to center and stole second with two outs.