BELLEFONTE - You could tell Hannah Cooper was a little anxious in the batter's box.
Waiting for pitches from Huntingdon's Sarah Snare, the Bellefonte lead off batter corked one deep into the outfield but far enough foul to not be an issue.
Still, it was a monster hit, one she repeated in a few of her at-bats.
In the bottom of the sixth, Cooper drove a pitch far enough into the middle of the grass to send the game-clinching run across the plate, giving Bellefonte a 13-3 win over the Lady Bearcats to advance to the District 6 Class AAA championship next week against Johnstown.
"I had to be really patient," Cooper said. "I was frustrated because I was trying to get one over the second baseman's head, but I couldn't. I was just pulling it that way."
Cooper's three singles were part of Bellefonte's 16-hit attack in the semifinal contest.
Jess Gmerek and Chrissy Tressler each had three as the top five batters in the Lady Raiders' lineup accounted for 12 hits - two for extra bases.
Huntingdon, which was down only 3-2 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, was held to just five hits by the pitching duo of Raychel DeArmitt and Alexandra Stathes.
"The better team certainly won without question," Huntingdon coach Chris Patrick said. "You don't get to be the No. 1 seed without being able to hit, and they certainly did it well. We had a good approach in our previous game against Lewistown, and we wanted to do the same today. We wanted to come out and be aggressive and have solid defense."
The Lady Raiders (16-5) just demolished the ball in the fourth inning.
The first eight batters of the inning each reached base with hits. Relief pitcher Morgan Glover was able to get the final two outs of the stanza, but not before Bellefonte increased its advantage to 9-2.
"We wanted to be aggressive. We took a lot of chances," Bellefonte coach Gregg Kohlhepp said. "We were fortunate we were ahead of some plays a few times."
Huntingdon (8-12) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Casey Baird crushed a 1-2 offering from DeArmitt into right field for a triple. She came home on an infield error when Atalie Yingling hit a ball to the second baseman.
In the third inning, the Lady Bearcats cut the 3-1 gap in half on Yingling's single to right that scored Alexyss Spencer.
They tried for the tie as Baird rounded third on her way to the dish, but she got held up and was thrown out going back to third.
Bellefonte unleashed its big frame, and Huntingdon was only able to score one more run in the fifth.
"I think the extra game helps," Patrick said. "Most teams have had long layoffs, so it actually did us some good to have that.
"It was seven or eight hits in a row, and that is tough to recover from. It really is. To Bellefonte's credit, they are a tough-hitting team top to bottom."
SCORE BY INNINGS
Huntingdon101010x-354
Bellefonte300604x-13162
2B-Yingling 2 (H); Tressler, V. Cooper (B). 3B-Baird (H); Gmerek (B). Multiple hits-Yingling 2 (H); H. Cooper 3, Devinney 2, Gmerek 3, Tressler 3, Thal 2. RBI-Yingling 2 (H); H. Cooper 2, Gmerek 3, Tressler 3, V. Cooper 2, Thal (B). WP-DeArmitt. LP-Snare. SO-Snare 1, Glover 1 (H); DeArmitt 5, Stathes 1 (B). BB-Snare 2, Glover 1 (H); DeArmitt 2, Stathes 1 (B).
Records: Huntingdon (8-12); Bellefonte (16-4).
