Beth-Center comes up one run short in PIAA softball opener
BOALSBURG – The season ended in dramatic fashion for the Beth-Center girls Monday evening. District 6 champion Penns Valley erased a 3-0 Bulldog lead after one half-inning to beat Beth-Center, 5-4, at Hess Field in Boalsburg and advance in the PIAA Class A softball playoffs.
Junior shortstop Keri Lucas went 3-for-3 and junior center fielder Brittany Corl knocked in three runs on two doubles for the Lady Rams (21-2). Sophomore Christie Wiest pitched a complete game for the victory, walking two batters and striking out six, including the Bulldogs’ clean-up hitter, junior catcher Donelle Homen, for the last out of the game.
“I knew I just had to concentrate on the batter with runners on base,” Wiest said of the final out. “I just wanted to throw the ball over the plate because my teammates were so clean behind me the whole game.”
Junior pitcher Kristi Mazzaferri allowed only three hits to leave the infield, but took the defeat for the Bulldogs.
Beth-Center (17-7) did most of its damage in the first inning as the first four Bulldog batters reached base thanks to three singles and an error. Homen’s bunt single rambled past the pitcher and brought in sophomore second baseman Lesley Kurjanowicz and Mazzaferri. Junior right fielder Sherri Roberts scored on a wild pick-off throw to third.
Wiest averted a first-inning knockout, however, by striking out two Bulldogs and inducing a third to ground out back to the mound. She allowed only one more run in the game, which came in the fifth inning on a Kurjanowicz ground ball that plated sophomore left fielder Alisha Holt.
Penns Valley mounted its comeback down 3-1 in the third inning, scoring three runs on five hits to jump on top. Corl came to the plate with two on and nobody out and proceeded to smash a Mazzaferri fastball over Holt’s head for a double. She would later be thrown out at the plate, but junior catcher Desiree Leitch reached base on an infield single and later scored on a bunt by senior left fielder Jessica Hege.
Leitch would not have even been in scoring position without a little confusion on the part of the Bulldogs. When the tag came down on Corl, Beth-Center celebrated what they though was the third out of the inning. All but two Bulldogs headed off the field into the dugout. By the time anyone on the Beth-Center bench figured out there were actually only two outs, Leitch had already advanced to third.
Holt’s fifth-inning run tied the game at four, but the Lady Rams jumped on top again quickly in the bottom of the fifth when Hege doubled home Lucas.
Beth-Center squandered scoring chances in the top half of the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, the Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out but could not get a run across. A fly ball to shallow right field failed to score a runner from third base before a ground ball to second base ended the threat.
With one inning left to tie or take the lead, Beth-Center again put three runners on base with a walk, a fielder’s choice and an infield single. With runners on first and third and one out, the Bulldogs tried to get in a rundown at second base. Instead, the rundown happened between third and home plate after a bunt by Roberts. The Lady Rams tagged out the runner and Wiest closed the door with a strikeout to end the game.
“We had chances throughout the game, but particularly in the last two innings,” Beth-Center coach Frank Mazeppa said. “We made a few mistakes out there today. I don’t mind losing and I can accept the physical mistakes, but the mental ones can be hard to take.”
Mazeppa’s team entered the PIAA playoffs as the second seed in District 7. After an undefeated conference record (10-0) in the regular season, the Bulldog’s advanced all the way to the WPIAL finals, where they fell to Sto-Rox, 10-1.
Penns Valley came out of District 6 with its fourth-straight title, but almost met its match on Monday. Experience and defense turned out to be the difference.
Now the Lady Rams advance to meet Chartiers-Houston in the quarterfinals.
“It was a bit of an ugly win, but it’s a win and we’ll take it,” Penns Valley coach Don Lucas said. “We were tight in the pre-game warm-up. Why? I don’t know. You’re dealing with young ladies and you’ve got to keep that in perspective. But we got it together and we were a team that wouldn’t rattle.”