HS Softball: Blue Mountain outlasts North Schuylkill in Division I battle
North Schuylkill's Olivia Jones pitches to Blue Mountain's Addison Fishburn during the first inning of Thursday's Schuylkill League Division I game. Catching for the Spartans is Lindsay Brouse. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — Blue Mountain scored early. That was important.
Blue Mountain scored often. That was crucial.
The Eagles plated runs in 6-of-7 innings to turn back North Schuylkill 11-3 on Thursday in a Schuylkill League Division I showdown at Dot Seidel Field. The teams battled away for 2 hours, 3 minutes on a blustery, 50-degree afternoon under sunny skies.
“I told them, ‘Let’s get one up every inning,’ ” Blue Mountain coach Paul Leonard said. “Once we got started, we were able to manufacture some the old-fashioned way, move runners, dink and dunk. And then we had a couple power hitters come up and do their job as well. Score any way we can.”
In the top of the first, Blue Mountain’s patience led to a pair of early runs. Addison Fishburn, Avery Hudock and Anna Borden worked consecutive walks to lead off the game. Emmerson Frie plated one run with a sharp single to left, and later in the inning, Karley Koch’s RBI infield single made it 2-0.
North Schuylkill (3-2, 1-1 D-I) got one run back in the bottom of the first on an error, but the Spartans left the bases loaded. They struggled against the spins and location of Blue Mountain starter Emily Leonard as the freshman right-hander allowed no earned runs while striking out four and walking one. She had just one 1-2-3 inning in the game but worked out of trouble as North Schuylkill stranded 10 baserunners.
Blue Mountain (4-1, 2-0) extended its lead in the second inning when Borden launched a towering two-run home run that clanged high off the foul pole.
The Eagles took advantage of five North Schuylkill errors to tack on runs for a 7-1 lead after five innings.
“We can’t make mistakes,” North Schuylkill coach Jack Flynn said. “We had quite a few errors, throwing errors, fielding errors. We can’t have that against a good team like Blue Mountain.”
In the sixth, Emmerson Frie, another Blue Mountain freshman, scorched a solo home run just to the right of straightaway center field to up the advantage to 8-1. The homer was Frie’s third of the season.
In the seventh, Fishburn, who went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, singled over a drawn-in infield to knock in a run, and Callie Peel singled home two more runs.
North Schuylkill used a pair of errors to get two runs back in the seventh on Jordanna Frie’s sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Lindsay Brouse, who went 3-for-4.
After heavy graduation losses, the Eagles are going with a youth movement. They started just one senior, with two juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen.
“Growing. I’d say we work hard. It’s still Mike’s program, the kids have bought in,” Paul Leonard said of former coach, the late Mike Rollman. “Nothing’s really changed. Our day-to-day stuff is the same, and our youth is growing up. I think that Emmaus game (a 4-2 loss) kind of opened their eyes and said, ‘Yeah, we can do this. We can compete with some bigger and better teams.’ … It was a good confidence boost coming into league play.
“North Schuylkill is a really good team,” the coach added. “… We knew coming in this was going to be tough.”
