Mid Valley outlasts Holy Cross in eight innings – Scranton Times-Tribune

DUNMORE — Just another typical Mid Valley-Holy Cross softball game.

Hard-fought battle. Leaving it all on the field. Neither team willing to give in.

After Holy Cross scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to take the lead, Mid Valley’s Ariana Davey tied it with two outs in the top of the seventh. The Spartanettes then scored twice in the top of the eighth and held on for a 7-6 win over the Lady Crusaders in a Lackawanna League Division II first-place showdown on a sunny and breezy Monday afternoon at Msgr. Crotti Field at St. Anthony’s Memorial Playground.

“That’s what it’s about. These games for maybe the last 10 years have been similar to this,” Mid Valley coach Michael Piercy said. “Back and forth, extra innings. I’m just super proud of their effort. We have a lot of youth out there and we made a lot of mistakes — on the bases, on defense. But we didn’t hang our heads. We stayed positive and fought for the full eight innings.”

Trailing, 4-3, in the bottom of the sixth inning, McKinley Griffiths led off with a single for Holy Cross (7-2 overall, 4-1 league), then stole second. Maya DeSantis was hit by a pitch. One out later, Kiera Bauman hit a ground ball that was misplayed for an error, allowing Griffiths to score the tying run. Lila Kolcharno, who had three hits, hit her second double into the left-field corner to score DeSantis and put the Lady Crusaders on top, 5-4.

But Mid Valley (5-0, 10-1) answered in the top of seventh. Abigail Mackey led off with a single and advanced to second on a groundout. Holy Cross pitcher Ava Schmidt retired the next batter on a groundout. But Davey ripped a double to left-center field to score Mackey and tie the game, 5-5.

“I had to not let my team down and focus,” Davey said. “When I got that first strike, I was like, OK, I’m ready, I’m set. When I hit the second ball, I was so happy we scored the run and I didn’t let my team down. That kept us going.

“We kept fighting, kept our heads up. We made mistakes, but we got right back together. We believed in each other and helped each other.”

Mid Valley pitcher Ava Hazelton retired Holy Cross in order in the bottom of the seventh and the game headed to extra innings. In the top of the eighth, with one out, Natalie Hricenak doubled to center field. With two outs, Julie Prisco hit a fly ball that was dropped for an error, allowing pinch-runner Amelia Mackey to score the go-ahead run. Amelia Mackey then stole third and when the throw got away, she got up and scored to make it 7-5.

That insurance run was important because, with one out in the bottom of the eighth, Emily Fitzpatrick homered to left-center to bring Holy Cross within 7-6. The Lady Crusaders put the tying run on base with two outs, but Hazelton got the final out and Mid Valley held on for the win.

“We talk all the time with our players about being resilient and playing the next pitch,” Holy Cross coach Joe Ross said. “Throughout the course of the game, no matter what happened, we kept playing and fighting until the last out. I’m really proud of my players for doing that.

“It’s difficult to lose a game. But what this is is a learning experience and they can start to understand how good we can potentially be.”

One-out singles by Kolcharno and Jules Galella and two-out walks to Claire Helring and Griffiths gave Holy Cross a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

However, three errors and an RBI double by Parker Bennett produced four runs in the top of the third for Mid Valley and gave it a 4-1 lead.

Holy Cross committed seven errors. Six of Mid Valley’s runs were unearned.

“The mindset we try to cultivate here is to just keep playing, no matter what,” Ross said. “Mistakes are going to happen, you just have to play through them. I think we were an example of that today.”

Consecutive doubles by Kolcharno and Galella leading off the bottom of the third cut the Lady Crusaders’ deficit to 4-2. Then in the bottom of the fifth, Schmidt singled on a wind-aided infield popup and Kolcharno walked. They advanced to third and second, respectively, when Galella flew out to the warning track in left. Peyton Graboske then plated Schmidt with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-3 Mid Valley.

Schmidt walked two and struck out 11 in eight innings for Holy Cross.

“She’s a next level-type pitcher who will keep us in the game with anybody,” Ross said. “You saw her resiliency, her grit and determination and how hard she plays. She threw a phenomenal game.”

Hazelton walked four and fanned 12 in her eight innings for Mid Valley.

“Ava is an absolute dog,” Piercy said. “She’s sick, she had a sinus infection going on, but she would not miss this game or miss school for the world. She’s just such a tough kid and I know as long as she’s out there, we’re going to be competitive in any game.”

The teams are scheduled to meet again May 8 at Mid Valley.

“I told them to enjoy this one, but you are not league champs,” Piercy said. “Celebrate tonight, but it’s just a good win early in the season. We have to keep this intensity and focus and we have to get better as the season goes on.”

Elk Lake 17, Susquehanna 2 (3 inn.): At Elk Lake, Celeste Clark had a home run, a double, three RBIs and three runs to lead the Lady Warriors to the Division III win.

Lydia Howell added a triple, a double and two RBIs, Taylor Traver had two doubles, an RBI and two runs and Piper Keeney tacked on two hits, including a home run, for Elk Lake (2-4, 2-1).

Ally Barry had a triple and an RBI for the Lady Sabers (1-3, 0-2).