The Bellwood-Antis girls softball team got involved in a shootout at Glendale on Tuesday afternoon, before a season-long problem surfaced to capsize the Lady Blue Devils. Glendale took advantage of four errors to put six runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning to win 13-8.
The top of the lineup was very productive for the Lady Blue Devils. Center fielder Pam Weyant had three singles and scored a pair of runs in the leadoff spot. Christina Pfahler went three-for-four, scored three times and drove in a run. Heather Detwiler singled and scored twice. Number-four hitter Charlie Burns did just what a cleanup hitter is supposed to do banging out four hits in five trips, including a triple, and knocking in a season-high six runs.
“Charlie Burns is phenomenal, every time we needed a run, she knocked one in,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach Alex Sitman. Some of the girls have really stepped up in the second part of our season. Charlie Burns (the Lady Blue Devils only senior) is such a great softball player. The girls on this team will eventually break out and do well. It is too bad that Charlie is a senior this year. She deserves better than what she is having to go through with the team’s growing pains.
“Pam Weyant and Christina Pfahler had very good games against Glendale. Pam had three hits and most have stole five or six bases, all with a bad ankle. Christina had another good day at the plate. Courtney Hamer came in to pitch for us and was able to keep them off balance. She does a tremendous job on the mound for a freshman, in her first experience as a varsity pitcher. Karlie Rogers had two hits as well.”
The Bellwood-Antis girls came back from a 4-2 deficit to take the lead with three runs in the top of the fourth and three more in the fifth. Then the roof fell in, with the Lady Vikings scoring six times in their half of the fifth, on just two hits.
“We have started to play good baseball,” said Sitman. “However we can’t seem to get past giving the other team one big inning that kills us. We hit well today and were able to manufacture runs. Our defense was pretty good except for that one inning. The girls are working hard, have good attitudes and never give up. We are better and we hope to be competitive what remains of our schedule.”
Kristin Laing belted a double and home run and drove in four runs to lead Glendale (6-7). Laing and C. J. Krise each had three hits and Justine Morrison had two hits for the Lady Vikings.
Bellwood-Antis gave up eight first-inning runs to Mount Union in a 16-0 loss on Monday, continuing their streak of allowing opponents to have a big inning that effectively takes the Lady Blue Devils out of the game.
Bellwood-Antis (1-13) travels to Moshannon Valley (10-2) on Thursday for a 4:30 p.m. start time.
Glendale 13 Bellwood-Antis 8
Bellwood-Antis – Weyant, cf, 3-2-3; Pfahler, p-1b, 4-3-3; Detwiler, ss, 5-2-1; Burns, c, 5-1-4; Myers, 1b-lf, 4-0-0; Rogers, rf, 4-0-2; Bilka, 2b, 2-0-0; Riley, 3b, 4-0-0; Hamer, lf-p, 4-0-0. TOTALS 35-8-13.
Glendale – Laing, ss, 5-2-3; Heverly, lf, 3-1-0; Morrison, 2b, 3-2-2; Krise, c, 5-2-3; Twigg, 1, 3-2-1; McGarvey, cf, 4-1-0; Shomo, dp, 4-1-0, Matthews, 3b, 4-1-0; McQuown, 1b, 4-1-0; Edmiston, rf, 0-0-0. TOTALS 35-13-9.
Bellwood-Antis 200 330 0 8-13-6.
Glendale 310 360 X 13-9-4.
2B: (G) Laing.
3B: (BA) Burns.
HR: (G) Laing.
Multiple hits: (BA) Burns 4, Weyant 3, Pfahler 3, Rogers 2, (G) Laing 3, Krise 3, Morrison 2.
RBI: (BA) Burns 6, Rogers 2, Pfahler, , (G) Laing 4, Morrison, Twigg, Shomo, Matthews 2, McQuown.
SO: (BA) Hamer 2, (G) Twigg 5.
BB: (BA) Pfahler 3, Hamer 4, (G) Twigg 2.
WP: Twigg LP: Hamer
