ORWIGSBURG – In a battle of two birds, it was the Pine Grove Area Lady Cardinals who were victorious over the Blue Mountain Lady Eagles by a score of 5-1 in the Schuylkill League softball championship on Thursday night at James F. Patton Field on the campus of Blue Mountain High School.
Pine Grove (21-2) came into the tournament as the number two seed out of Division One while Blue Mountain (20-2) was the first seed from the same division.
Before the game started between these two powerhouse programs, the league honored the All-League teams (First Team, Second Team, Honorable Mention) by having the selected players wear their uniforms and walk out on the infield for photos.
To start the contest, Florida State commit Callee Leffler was walked on a four pitch at bat. On the next at bat, she stole second base. A groundout by Hannah Aungst allowed Leffler to advance to third base where she would score on a hard groundball hit by Jamie Dinger to make the score 1-0 in the Cardinals favor.
It was three straight flyouts for Blue Mountain in the bottom half of the first inning. The Lady Cardinals followed that pattern with three groundouts.
The Lady Eagles went on the attack right away with a single by Hailey Place to start the bottom half of the second. Several pitches after Place stole second base in the next at bat, Karley Koch doubled to left field allowing Place to score and tie the game at one run for each team. Emmerson Frie singled to left field but Koch was thrown out at third base on that play. What followed that was a strikeout and a groundout.
Both sides went 1-2-3 once again with three groundouts for Pine Grove while the Lady Eagles had a strikeout, groundout, and a flyout.
The Lady Cards threatened in the fourth inning with a Khloe Jessman double and an error by the Blue Mountain defense on Meadow Umbenhauer’s at bat put runners on the corners with 2 outs, but a groundout kept the game tied. In the bottom of the fourth, Blue Mountain they had no hope other than an error allowing Place to get on base.
Chelcy Clark was walked to begin the fifth inning for Pine Grove, but what followed were three straight outs. In the bottom half of the inning, it was the same story for the Lady Eagles, but Hudock went to first base on a hit by pitch, then a groundout, strikeout, and a fielder’s choice followed.
After two outs to start the sixth, Jessman singled to second base but beat the throw out. Umbenhauer came through clutch with her home run which went over both the temporary fence for high school softball and the men’s softball fence to make the score 3-1 in favor of Pine Grove. That proved to be a turning point in the game, but after Tailyn Bohr reached on an error, a groundout would conclude that threatening inning.
Once again, the Lady Eagles struggled to answer as the only bright spot was a single hit by Place to Leffler in center field.
Another offensive attack was started in the seventh inning for the Lady Cardinals as Mallory Schneck singled, and Leffler followed with her 14th home run of the season to make the score 5-1. After two straight outs, Lily Flynn singled, but a flyout followed to end another threat by Pine Grove.
There were two straight outs to start the last scoring opportunity for Blue Mountain, but Dashawna Vincent singled on a slap hit to Jamie Dinger in the pitcher’s circle and used her speed to get on base. But what happened after that ended the hopes of a Schuylkill League title for Blue Mountain, which was a strikeout.
After this championship victory, Pine Grove Area improves to 21-2 on the season. Along with being league champions, they will also be the one seed in the District 11 Class 3A tournament where they will face fourth seeded Palisades (8-11) on Thursday at 4:00pm back at Patton Field.
For the Lady Eagles of Blue Mountain, they head to the 4A district tournament as the second seed where they will host seventh seeded Tamaqua Area (10-10) on Tuesday at 4:30pm at Patton Field.
PINE GROVE (21-2) – 1 0 0 0 0 2 2
HITTING
Callee Leffler (CF) (1-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 1 walk)
Hannah Aungst (SS) (0-4)
Jamie Dinger (P) (1-4, 1 RBI, 1 K)
Lily Flynn (2B) (1-4, 1 K)
Khloe Jessman (RF) (2-4, 1 run)
Meadow Umbenhauer (3B) (1-3, 1 run, 2 RBI)
Tailyn Bohr (C) (0-3)
Chelcy Clark (EH) (0-2, 1 walk)
Mallory Schneck (LF) (1-3, 1 run)
Doubles – Jessman
Home Run – Umbenhauer, Leffler
Stolen Bases – Ava Behrent, Leffler
PITCHING
Dinger (7.0 IP, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 5 K’s)
FIELDING
Errors – Aungst
BLUE MOUNTAIN (20-2) – 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
HITTING
Addyson Fishburn (CF) (1-3)
Aryana Reilly (3B) (0-3)
Anna Borden (1B) (0-3)
Hailey Place (SS) (2-3, 1 run)
Karley Koch (RF) (1-3, 1 RBI)
Emmerson Frie (C) (1-3)
Avery Hudock (2B) (0-2, 2 K’s)
Dashawna Vincent (LF) (1-3)
Emily Leonard (0-3, 3 K’s)
Doubles – Koch
Stolen Bases – Hudock, Vincent, Place, McKenna Manbeck
PITCHING
Leonard (7.0 IP, 7 hits, 5 earned runs, 2 walks, 2 K’s)
FIELDING
Errors – Leonard, Place
