HS Softball: Tri-Valley rallies past Pottsville
Tri-Valley's Lydia Rodichok (25) bats as Pottsville catcher Olivia Wessner and umpire Jeff Hoffman look on during Monday's non-league game. Tri-Valley won 8-4. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
HEGINS — Tri-Valley’s players had every reason to hang their heads.
Pottsville led by two runs heading to the bottom of the sixth inning, and the Crimson Tide built their lead with clutch two-out hits, two double plays and pitching out of jams.
The Dawgs, though, didn’t get down or give up. They just aren’t built that way.
When Pottsville opened the door a crack with a miscue in the field, the Dawgs ripped it off the hinges. When the sixth inning ended, Tri-Valley had pushed six runs across on five hits, a walk and three Tide errors to clinch an 8-4 victory over Pottsville on Monday in a non-league softball game on the Tri-Valley campus.
Kora Rodichock pitched the first six innings for Tri-Valley to get the win in the circle. Freshman Myah Schwalm came on in relief in the seventh, hurling a neat 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts on a mere 10 pitches.
“We were fighting hard. We were hitting the ball hard. We just couldn’t get that break,” Tri-Valley coach Marty Shade said. “Give Pottsville a lot of credit. They came in here, played their hearts out. They were getting the big hits, and we weren’t. … To the girls’ credit, they kept fighting. We got a little bit of a break, and we took advantage of it.
“Pottsville’s always been a good softball town,” Shade added. “For a little, small school like us to play a big school like Pottsville and compete with them, it says a lot about my kids. I’m very proud of them. I was thinking, win or lose, we’re getting a lot out of this game. The young kids that we’re putting in there because of all of our injuries we’re having this year. Injuries are part of the game, and it’s the old cliche — next man up.”
Early on, though, it was all Pottsville (4-5).
The Tide couldn’t have gotten off to a better start, scoring two runs in the top of the first on Aubrey Scanlan’s RBI double and Lana Cromyak’s sacrifice fly.
Tri-Valley (6-2) tied the game 2-2 in the second inning when Lydia Rodichok smashed a two-run triple over the left fielder’s head. Tide second baseman Jo Barnhart then made a brilliant catch in shallow right field and fired to third base to catch the courtesy runner off the bag for an inning-ending double play. In the fifth, Pottsville turned a slick 6-4-3 double play to squash another Tri-Valley rally.
The Tide used fundamental softball to score single runs in the fourth and fifth innings for a 4-2 lead. With two outs, Izzy Kunstek rapped an RBI single to give Pottsville the lead in the fourth, and Scanlan scalded her fourth triple of the season to drive in a run in the fifth.
Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, the Dawgs got the break they needed when Savanah Stiely reached on a one-out error. After a flyout for out No. 2, the next six Tri-Valley batters reached base — five hits and a walk.
Freshman Alina Leonard had the big hit, a two-run double that tied the game at 4. Cassi Snyder, racing at top speed, scored from first base on the hit. When the relay throw went out of play, Leonard was awarded home plate to put the Dawgs on top for the first time all day.
Mady Schwalm kept the rally going with her second single of the day, and Liv Witmer followed with a booming RBI triple to center field. Witmer went 4-for-4 with two runs and an RBI out of the cleanup spot for Tri-Valley. Myah Schwalm and Lydia Rodichok added RBI singles to provide some insurance runs.
Game Summary
POTTSVILLE (4) — Siminitus cf 3 2 1 0, Yost rf 4 1 1 0, Eckert p 4 0 0 0, Scanlan ss 4 0 2 2, Cromyak 3b 2 1 1 1, Ketner 1b 2 0 0 0, Templeton dp 3 0 0 0, Kunstek lf 3 0 2 1, Barnhart 2b 3 0 2 0, Wessner c 0 0 0 0. Totals 28 4 9 4.
TRI-VALLEY (8) — C. Snyder ss 3 1 0 0, Leonard cf 4 1 1 2, Ma Schwalm 2b 4 1 2 0, Witmer 3b 4 2 4 1, My. Schwalm 1b-p 3 2 2 1, L. Rodichok c 4 0 2 3, Leese cr 0 0 0 0, K. Rodichok p-1b 4 0 1 0, A. Snyder cr 0 0 0 0, Stiely lf 3 1 1 0, Tobin rf 3 0 0 0. Totals 32 8 13 6.
Po (4-5) 200 110 0 — 4
TV (6-2) 020 006 x — 8
E — Pottsville 5, Tri-Valley 0
DP — Pottsville 2
LOB — Pottsville 6, Tri-Valley 8
2B — Scanlan, Leonard
3B — Scanlan, L. Rodichok, Witmer
SB — Siminitus
SAC — Ketner
SF — Cromyak
Pottsville
IP H R ER BB K
Eckert L,4-5 6 13 8 2 2 1
Tri-Valley
IP H R ER BB K
K.Rodichok W,4-1 6 9 4 4 1 3
My.Schwalm 1 0 0 0 0 2
WP — Eckert. PB — Wessner. T — 1:45.
