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Haven't posted anything here in a while, thought I'd try this. Hack it up folks.
Central’s Brianne Young had a deathgrip on the collar of her jersey. She stared at the ground, but it was clear she was really looking at anything, just staring blankly.
She tried to find the words to describe how the Blue Jays were once again denied a trip to the PIAA softball tournament. As she tried to speak, he mouth opened, no words came out and her grip on her jersey grew even tighter. Her neon-green painted fingernails dug into the tear-soaked material.
South Williamsport’s 4-3 win had long been erased from the right-field scoreboard but Young was still reliving one sequence of plays through her mind. She tried to figure out why twice, just one pitch away from escaping the second inning with no damage, things went haywire.
Her hands wrapped around the back of her neck, fingers interlocking, but blank stare never changing. Her four hitless innings pitched to close out the game didn’t matter.
The four runs the Mounties put on the board in the second inning — one by a bases loaded hit batter and three on a two-out error — and the Blue Jays loss in the District 4 Class AA title game were the only things that did.
“One bad inning can do it for you,†Young said, tears welling up in her eyes once again. “One bad inning can make you lose.â€
And it was the one bad inning, combined with the Blue Jays’ inability to string hits together, that ultimately prevented Central from winning its first district title and advancing to the PIAA playoffs since 1997.
“It’s really a bummer,†Young said.
“We definitely hurt ourselves,†Central coach Duane Ford said.
Young had wiggled out of early trouble in the first and appeared ready to do so again in the second with two runners on. But with a 1-2 count, South’s Krystin Hubbard managed to work a walk to load the bases.
And Young was ready to shut down the inning again when she got ahead of dangerous leadoff hitter Mindy Godfrey 0-2. But after Godfrey got out of the way of one inside pitch, Young came in even farther and hit Godfrey to force in a run.
“I just didn’t mean to. I wasn’t supposed to come inside, I was just trying to throw a strike,†Young said. “That basically screwed us over.â€
Young then induced Manda Peck to hit a grounder to short for the apparent third out, but Bridgette Clarke’s throw, about six inches off the ground by the time it reached first base, was dropped by Central’s Amanda Pursel. Two runs scored on the initial play, and as Pursel corralled the ball, Peck had strayed too far off first and both dove back toward the base headfirst.
Pursel applied the tag, but dropped the ball. The umpire called Peck out, because the ball being dropped was blocked form his view. But as the bright green ball, lay on the ground amidst the blue and white jerseys, Godfrey scrambled home from third for the third run of the play, and the fourth of the inning. And after a brief conference between the homeplate and first-base umpire, Peck was ruled safe and all three runs were allowed to score.
“Then the girl’s called out, which ends the inning, and then the girl scores after that with the fourth run. Then the umpire said it’s continuation since they went back and changed the call. But at what point does an inning end? When an umpire yells ‘Out!’ for the third out?†Ford said. “If he doesn’t call her out, maybe (the first baseman) gets up and looks at home. But while they’re bickering over the call, the girl scores. I think they should kill the ball at that point if you’re going to discuss the call.â€
“(When the ball was hit) I really thought the inning was over,†Mounties pitcher Caroline Whipple said.
“It’s uncharacteristic for that team,†South coach Mike Frey said. “They’re fundamentally sound and they just do everything so well. But it’s one of those things.â€
And in one half inning, the breath had been taken out of Central. The dugout cheers began were as much imploring teammates for hits as they were encouraging.
But Whipple kept the Blue Jays off-balance with a solid change-up. And routinely she relied on a stellar defensive effort by the Mounties to keep Central off the basepaths.
And when Central was able to conjure up a runner in scoring position, it was often with two outs. Whipple stranded a runner at second in the third, fourth and fifth innings. She also left the tying run at third in the seventh when Courtney Comstock grounded out to third to end the game. Four of Central’s five stranded runners were in scoring position.
“Our offense just didn’t show up,†Ford said. “We just didn’t get the number of runners on we needed or the timely hits when we did get them on.â€
Young finally let up on the grip of her jersey collar. Hands at her side, she resigned to what the game really was for Central.
“It’s all just really frustrating,†Young said. “It was just ... not good.â€
Central’s Brianne Young had a deathgrip on the collar of her jersey. She stared at the ground, but it was clear she was really looking at anything, just staring blankly.
She tried to find the words to describe how the Blue Jays were once again denied a trip to the PIAA softball tournament. As she tried to speak, he mouth opened, no words came out and her grip on her jersey grew even tighter. Her neon-green painted fingernails dug into the tear-soaked material.
South Williamsport’s 4-3 win had long been erased from the right-field scoreboard but Young was still reliving one sequence of plays through her mind. She tried to figure out why twice, just one pitch away from escaping the second inning with no damage, things went haywire.
Her hands wrapped around the back of her neck, fingers interlocking, but blank stare never changing. Her four hitless innings pitched to close out the game didn’t matter.
The four runs the Mounties put on the board in the second inning — one by a bases loaded hit batter and three on a two-out error — and the Blue Jays loss in the District 4 Class AA title game were the only things that did.
“One bad inning can do it for you,†Young said, tears welling up in her eyes once again. “One bad inning can make you lose.â€
And it was the one bad inning, combined with the Blue Jays’ inability to string hits together, that ultimately prevented Central from winning its first district title and advancing to the PIAA playoffs since 1997.
“It’s really a bummer,†Young said.
“We definitely hurt ourselves,†Central coach Duane Ford said.
Young had wiggled out of early trouble in the first and appeared ready to do so again in the second with two runners on. But with a 1-2 count, South’s Krystin Hubbard managed to work a walk to load the bases.
And Young was ready to shut down the inning again when she got ahead of dangerous leadoff hitter Mindy Godfrey 0-2. But after Godfrey got out of the way of one inside pitch, Young came in even farther and hit Godfrey to force in a run.
“I just didn’t mean to. I wasn’t supposed to come inside, I was just trying to throw a strike,†Young said. “That basically screwed us over.â€
Young then induced Manda Peck to hit a grounder to short for the apparent third out, but Bridgette Clarke’s throw, about six inches off the ground by the time it reached first base, was dropped by Central’s Amanda Pursel. Two runs scored on the initial play, and as Pursel corralled the ball, Peck had strayed too far off first and both dove back toward the base headfirst.
Pursel applied the tag, but dropped the ball. The umpire called Peck out, because the ball being dropped was blocked form his view. But as the bright green ball, lay on the ground amidst the blue and white jerseys, Godfrey scrambled home from third for the third run of the play, and the fourth of the inning. And after a brief conference between the homeplate and first-base umpire, Peck was ruled safe and all three runs were allowed to score.
“Then the girl’s called out, which ends the inning, and then the girl scores after that with the fourth run. Then the umpire said it’s continuation since they went back and changed the call. But at what point does an inning end? When an umpire yells ‘Out!’ for the third out?†Ford said. “If he doesn’t call her out, maybe (the first baseman) gets up and looks at home. But while they’re bickering over the call, the girl scores. I think they should kill the ball at that point if you’re going to discuss the call.â€
“(When the ball was hit) I really thought the inning was over,†Mounties pitcher Caroline Whipple said.
“It’s uncharacteristic for that team,†South coach Mike Frey said. “They’re fundamentally sound and they just do everything so well. But it’s one of those things.â€
And in one half inning, the breath had been taken out of Central. The dugout cheers began were as much imploring teammates for hits as they were encouraging.
But Whipple kept the Blue Jays off-balance with a solid change-up. And routinely she relied on a stellar defensive effort by the Mounties to keep Central off the basepaths.
And when Central was able to conjure up a runner in scoring position, it was often with two outs. Whipple stranded a runner at second in the third, fourth and fifth innings. She also left the tying run at third in the seventh when Courtney Comstock grounded out to third to end the game. Four of Central’s five stranded runners were in scoring position.
“Our offense just didn’t show up,†Ford said. “We just didn’t get the number of runners on we needed or the timely hits when we did get them on.â€
Young finally let up on the grip of her jersey collar. Hands at her side, she resigned to what the game really was for Central.
“It’s all just really frustrating,†Young said. “It was just ... not good.â€
