Extra time: Lady Mikes edge West Greene in 8 innings, 7-6
JEFFERSON – Carys McConnell slid head first across the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning for the winning run in Carmichaels’ 7-6 victory against West Greene in the WPIAL Class A consolation final.
Carmichaels enters the PIAA softball playoffs as the third team out of District 7 and will play the District 10 champion Cambridge Springs on Monday. West Greene plays as the fourth team from the WPIAL and travels to the District 6 champ, either Claysburg-Kimmel or West Branch.
“It’s tough when you play someone three times. They’re a very scrappy, well-coached team. Every game we’ve played has been competitive,” said Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs, adding, “When you play someone three times, it’s not easy.”
West Greene coach Billy Simms noted the game only decided which direction the teams were traveling, but he’s always in it to win it.
“You always try to win every game. At least, we do,” said Simms. “Today’s game was a placement game. You had the comfortability of knowing you were already in, whether you were going to Erie or going to the Johnston area,”
McConnell started the game-winning rally when she reached third after her sharply-hit line drive was misplayed. Ali Jacobs was intentionally walked for the second time and McConnell scored on Megan Voithofer’s ground ball.
The game was tied at 1-1 entering the top of the fourth inning when the game was postponed for 30 minutes because of thunder. A heavy rain then followed, but the infield at Jefferson-Morgan was covered with a tap and when the rains finally subsided and the ground crew raked in bags of Diamond Dry, the game resumed 75 minutes later at 5:30 p.m. after both teams were granted time to warm up.
“(The weather delay) makes it tough on both teams. I thought we were in a good frame of mind when the rain did start. We had scored and we were on kind of a high, and it was a long break and it looked like we weren’t going to play,” said Briggs.
West Greene came out firing after the weather delay and, with the aid of two errors, regained the lead with three runs.
“Both teams went through it. We just tried to stay loose,” said Simms. “I think both teams were ready to play.The bats were alive out of the rain delay and tried to catch them sleeping.”
Madelyn Roberts had a run-scoring single and Kylee Davis drove in a run with an infield ground out. Roberts scored on a wild pitch.
Carmichaels responded with two unearned runs in the bottom of the inning. The second scoring on Bailey Barnyak’s double that kicked up chalk on the left field foul line..
West Greene came right back with two more unearned runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Sammi Zimmerman walked with two outs and moved to second on a wild pitch. She came around to score when Kendra Tharp’s fly ball was played into a three-base error. Tharp scored when the relay to third base skipped out of play.
Carmichaels batted around in the bottom of the inning to pull into a 6-6 tie.
Duski Staggers executed a safety squeeze for one run. The second scored on an error and the third came home on Barnyak’s second double of the game.
“There were just a couple innings today where we didn’t play clean enough to keep the lead.
A little of that was pressure. You have a nice county rivalry matchup here. Kudos to them,” said Simms.
Barnyak settled down after the fifth inning and retired the last nine batters of the game. Barnyak struck out 10 and walked two.
“I think she was really strong there in the last couple innings,” said Briggs.
West Greene’s Payton Gilbert allowed only one runner in the sixth and seventh innings. The right-hander was bothered by a nagging hand injury.
“She’s been battling a fingernail issue on her thumb. She’s a competitor,” said Simms. “We’re always ready (to bring Zimmerman in relief), but she was throwing with velocity today. That’s as hard as I’ve seen her throw in a while.”