Miscues cost Lady Scots in 6-3 loss to Freeport
MONROEVILLE — Southmoreland stranded the bases loaded three times and made untimely errors Tuesday afternoon that led to a 6-3 loss to Freeport in the opening round of the WPIAL Class AAA softball playoffs at Gateway.
“Today, they were the better team. I can’t take anything away from them. They hit the ball and got girls across when we needed to and we didn’t,” said Southmoreland coach Todd Bunner.
Freeport (11-6) made the most of some loose Southmoreland defense to score the deciding runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Abby DeJidas opened the rally with a single and went to third on Sydney Selker’s single with Selker taking second on the throw.
Reese Selker laid down a bunt and DeJidas was caught in a rundown. The second throw to the plate was high, allowing DeJidas to score and Sydney Selker to come home from second.
Jayme Radovan capped the scoring with a single.
“When we tied the game up, that’s right where we should’ve been at. And, those following two innings is where we made our uncharacteristic bad mistakes,” said Bunner. “We usually don’t make physical errors. Those couple errors hurt us.”
Freeport jumped ahead right out of the gate when Addy Caruso ripped a drive over the center field fence for a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Southmoreland’s Maddie Brown settled in after the home run with six consecutive strikeouts and retired the next 12 batters.
“Maddie had 15 strikeouts, so you can’t blame her. We just needed to make plays on the other ones and we didn’t necessarily do that,” said Bunner.
The Lady Scotties (14-3) made Brown’s efforts pay off by tying the game in the bottom of the third inning.
Brown walked to open the inning and Zoey Welling walked with one out. Makayla Etling drove in the first run with a single.
Riley Puckey beat out an infield grounder and Welling scored on an errant throw to first.
Amarah McCutcheon walked to load the bases, but Sydney Selker killed the rally with back-to-back strikeouts.
Southmoreland loaded the bases once again in the bottom of the fourth inning, but all three runners were stranded without a run.
Freeport scored an unearned run in the top of the fifth inning on a wild pitch after Megan Grolemund slapped a slicing line drive that landed on the left field line for a triple.
“(We’ve been playing from behind) lately. We’ve fought from behind. When you let them have runs and make uncharacteristic errors, it’s hard sometimes to get girls’ minds back in it.”
Southmoreland loaded the bases for a third time in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Brown was safe on a fielder’s choice and Bea Pawlikowsky entered as the courtesy runner. Brooke McBeth Walked. Zoey Welling followed with a run-scoring single.
Etling walked to load the bases. But, Sydney Selken wiggled out of another base-loaded jam with a strikeout and infield fly out.
“Bases loaded three times and don’t get runs across (the plate), that’s most of it,” said Bunner. “They just had a little more effort than we did today and that just happens.
“We had the bases loaded three times and didn’t take advantage of her mistakes. She was able to fight back mentally and kudos to her.”