Lady Commodores fall to undefeated Sto-Rox, 8-1
KENNEDY TWP. — It’s not often that a game is decided in the first inning, but one could argue that this was the case Monday, as Frazier fell to undefeated Sto-Rox in the WPIAL Class A softball playoffs, 8-1.
Frazier had a runner at third, Monica Joseph, in the bottom of the first with one out when Andrea Lash came to the plate. Lash chopped a ball to the shortstop as Joseph took off for home plate and beat the tag. However, Sto-Rox catcher Mary Cersosino blocked the plate, forcing the out and ending the early scoring threat.
“That’s what I was thinking at the time,” said Sto-Rox head coach Bill Palermo. “I knew the ball didn’t get there in time and that the runner was in there before the tag. But luckily for us, Mary was able to block the plate for the out, which was the play of the game.”
“She (Joseph) got a bad jump on that play,” said Frazier head coach Paul Harvey.
But Frazier (12-6) stuck with the Lady Vikings (19-0) through much of the game, turning two inning-ending double plays in the early innings, one of them unassisted by Alexis Livingstone as she caught a line drive at shortstop and was able to tag the runner caught tagging up.
“We knew the longer we hung around in this game, we had a better shot to win,” said Harvey. “We were able to do that for a while.”
The game fell apart in the fifth inning, as the Lady Vikings scored four runs without recording a hit. Frazier committed five errors, which permitted Sto-Rox to build a nearing insurmountable 4-0 lead in what was a defensive struggle otherwise.
“There were times both teams had a couple runners on today,” said Palermo. “Lash is a good pitcher and we were lucky to take advantage of those errors and put some runs on the board.”
After the deflating fifth, Frazier was able to get a run on the board when Paige Hotz singled and later scored during Brittany Strothers’ at-bat when the throw to first landed in right field.
That was as close as the Lady Commodores would get the rest of the way, as Sto-Rox added four more runs, three of them earned, in the seventh.
Lash took the loss, striking out one and walking two in seven innings. Hotz let the offense with a single and a run scored. Livingstone added a double in the sixth.
Natalya Smarra earned the win, striking out seven and walking one. Eight different players scored for the Lady Vikings and they were able to send nine players to the plate in the fifth and seventh innings.
The win sets up a semifinal between two pitching dynamos, as Smarra and Sto-Rox face Cameron Grimes and the Carmichaels Lady Mikes in the semifinals Wednesday, at a site and time to be determined.