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Lady Falcons lose tight battle to Latrobe

By Kevin Harrison for The 3 min read
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Connellsville's Joelle Rosky takes a pitch while batting against Greater Latrobe during the second inning of Thursday's game at Connellsville Area High School.

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Lori C. Padilla

Connellsville’s Kelsi Burklholder (8) reaches first safely as Greater Latrobe’s Regan McCracken can’t corral the throw during Thursday’s game at Connellsville Area High School.

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Connellsville's Haley Snyder fires the ball to teammate Jackie Cramer (4) to throw out Greater Latrobe's Meredith Carr (left) after a bunt attempt during Thursday's game at Connellsville Area High School.

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Connellsville' Emily Keslar pitches against Greater Latrobe during Thursday's game at Connellsville Area High School.

CONNELLSVILLE — The Connellsville Lady Falcons and the visiting Lady Wildcats from Greater Latrobe were locked in a tight Section-1AAAA battle Thursday afternoon before the Wildcats managed to push across a couple of runs in the middle innings for a 3-0 win.

Latrobe’s Meredith Carr kept the Falcons quiet at the plate, retiring the first 10 batters she faced. Not to be outdone Connellsville’s Emily Keslar worked out of a couple of minor jams in the first three innings to keep the Falcons even.

“We’ve taken a couple of losses this week against some good teams,” Connellsville coach Felicia Domasky said. “I think we learned a lot and we’re looking forward to seeing them again.”

Latrobe (3-1, 4-1) stranded a runner in the first when Reilly McCrackin drew a walk with one out. Karley Kovatch flied out to Brooke Miller at short. Miller made a quick throw to Haley Snyder at first to double up McCrackin.

The Wildcats stranded another runner in the third when Amber Dreistadt got aboard on a dropped fly ball in right field with two out. Keslar got Alexus Fearer to ground out back to the mound to end the inning.

The Wildcats picked up two runs in the fourth. With one out Kovatch singled to right. Jenna Raccor laid down a sacrifice bunt and beat the throw to put runners at first and second. Jenna Adams laid down another bunt, but Kovatch beat the throw to third to load the bases. Jess Tatone followed that with a two-run single.

“Every time we come to Connellsville we expect a good game from them and they gave it to us,” Latrobe coach Alexa Bryson said. “It was a close game today. We needed a spark and we were able to execute and push some runs across the plate. We were able to squeak out a win today.”

Connellsville (1-2, 2-2) threatened in the bottom half of the inning. Miller singled with one out. Fran Stefano sacrificed her to second. Kelcie Burkholder drew a walk to put two on with two out. Carr managed to strike out Keslar to end the threat.

“Those runs in the fourth and fifth innings hurt us. We just couldn’t find a way to generate some runs,” Domasky said. “We hit the ball hard at times today but we couldn’t get anything to fall in for us. Everything went right at them.”

Latrobe added another run in the fifth. Dreistadt was safe on an error. Fearer laid down a sacrifice bunt. Dreistadt never stopped running and ended up at third with one out. She scored on McCrackin’s ground out to second.

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