Beating a team three times in a row is sometimes difficult in Schuylkill League sports and that proved true again tonight. (3) Minersville knocked off (2) Schuylkill Haven 4-2 on Friday night to advance to the District 11 2A Championship on Tuesday. If you watched my interview with three Minersville players during Schuylkill League Softball Media Day, Payton Frantz, Grace Sterner, and Isabella Rizzardi all had one goal. That goal was to win a district title and make a state run. They now have a chance to make that possible.
Sterner was the playmaker at the plate for Minersville going 2-3 with 3 RBI’s. The bottom of the order helped Minersville as Ava Long went 2-2 with two runs along with a walk. Payton Frantz went 1-4 with one RBI. For the Hurricanes, Nickie Domermuth had a day hitting wise as she went 2-3 with one run and one RBI. Allie Scherer had the only other RBI, but she was 0-4. Joie Schoffstall was 1-3 from the plate tonight.
In the first two innings, both teams had 1-2-3 innings. However, in the third inning, Sterner hit a Sac-Fly to drive in Ava Long for the 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Frantz hit a single to drive in Olivia Kopinetz which increased their lead to 2-0 by the end of the inning. In the bottom half of the third, Scherer was out on a fielder’s choice to lessen the Big Blue Machine to 2-1. Moving to the fourth inning, Sterner collected two more RBI’s, driving in Long and Rilynn Brennan to up the lead at 4-1 and it would remain there until the bottom of the seventh when Domermuth hit a solo shot to Centerfield to make the score 4-2 but that wasn’t enough to stop Minersville. I also want to mention that Rizzardi made some great plays on the field for Minersville. Some of those plays were making throws while on the run.
Eila O’Brien gathered the win for Minersville. She tossed the whole game while striking out four, giving up five hits, two runs, and two walks. Allie Scherer took the loss to conclude the Hurricane season as she also pitched the whole game giving up seven hits, four runs, and three walks while serving punchouts to six.
The young Minersville squad will now have a chance to add a district championship to the program’s impressive collection. The championship game will take place on Tuesday, May 27th with location and time TBD.
**Minersville**
– Grace Sterner (2-3, 3 RBI’s)
– Isabella Rizzardi (0-2, 1 walk, 1 K)
– Payton Frantz (1-4, 1 RBI)
– Eila O’Brien (0-4, 2 K’s)
– Isabella Cruz (0-2, 1 walk, 1 K)
– Sara McGrath (0-3)
– Rilynn Brennan (1-3, 1 run, 2 K’s)
– Ava Long (2-2, 2 runs, 1 walk)
– Olivia Kopinetz (1-3, 1 run)
– Eila O’Brien (7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 4 K’s)
**Schuylkill Haven**
– Allie Scherer (0-4, 1 RBI)
– Teagan Wehr (1-3)
– Ally Becker (0-3, 1 K)
– Emmie Scherer (1-2, 1 walk)
– Joie Schoffstall (1-3)
– Aisley Jean (0-3, 2 K’s)
– Kaitlyn Russo (0-3)
– Gracelyn Line (1-2, 1 walk, 1 K)
– Nicole Domermuth (2-3, 1 run, 1 RBI)
– Allie Scherer (7.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, 6 K’s)
