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ELIZABETHVILLE -- It was a perfect day for softball.
It was an almost perfect day for Claysburg-Kimmel starting pitcher Sierra Walters.
Walters carried a perfect game into the fifth inning and gave up only three singles to lead the Bulldogs to a convincing 9-0 win over Upper Dauphin in a PIAA Class 2A first-round matchup Monday afternoon.
Walters struck out eight of the first nine batters she faced and recorded 11 strikeouts in total. The blazing start silenced the predominantly home crowd, and her mindset was quite simple.
Claysburg-Kimmel, the District 6 runner-up, advances to face the District 4 champ South Williamsport, which beat Elk Lake, 8-7, in Thursday's quarterfinals.
"I knew I had to come out here and do my best," Walters said. "I knew I had to give it 110 percent."
Claysburg-Kimmel (18-4) was also aided by a fast start, scoring four runs in the first two innings. The Bulldogs smartly took the extra bases where they could, whether it was because of errors or slow transitions to the cut-off position.
The best example came in the second inning. Jenna Helsel singled to start off the inning. Then, an attempted sacrifice bunt by Hayden Lamborn turned into a hit, putting players on first and second.
Later in the inning, Emalee Cavender drove in one on a single. Cavender stole a base and an error and sacrifice fly led to two other runs in the inning.
The youth of the Trojan squad showed at times in the field, which the Bulldogs capitalized upon.
Claysburg-Kimmel put pressure on the Trojans early with heads up baserunning.
"I told them we were going to play very aggressive on the bases," Claysburg-Kimmel coach Mike Barbarini said. "We were taking extra bases when they were throwing into the cutoff."
The Bulldogs doubled their lead to 8-0 in the fourth inning when they scored four runs on a double by Cavender and back-to-back singles by Walters and Nevaeh Walter. Two errors in the infield contributed to the scoring.
For the Class 2A District 3 champion Trojans, they saw their season come to a close on their home field.
The Trojans were fooled all afternoon by Walters with only two runners advancing to second base.
"She was deceptive," Upper Dauphin coach Bob Ligon said. "She just had really good movement on the ball. We just had no answers for her."
The Trojans struggled with five errors in the game that could be contributed to the younger players on the team.
This game will be used as a learning experience for the team as they prepare for next season.
"We were young, and we were surprised we even made it into states," Ligon said.
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (9): Cavender ss 532, Walters p 301, Lehman cr 010, Walter c 311, Claar 1b 411, Francona 2b 411, Black 3b 401, Helsel cf 411, Lamborn rf 411, Poullos lf 300. Totals -- 34 9 9.
UPPER DAUPHIN (0): Grow p 301, Miller ss 300, Klinger 3b 301, Anderson cf 300, Burget 1b 301, Rusnak pr 000, Henninger c 300, Hoffman 2b 200, Weibley rf 200, Schreffler lf 200. Totals -- 24 0 3.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Claysburg-Kimmel 130 401 0 -- 9 9 0
Upper Dauphin 000 000 0 -- 0 3 5
LOB--Claysburg-Kimmel 7, Upper Dauphin 3. 2B--Cavender. 3B--Francona. RBI--Cavender, Walters 2, Claar, Black 2. SB--Cavender 3, Walter, Claar, Poullos, Grow. SF--Walters.
PITCHING
Claysburg-Kimmel: Walters (W)--7IP, 3H, 11K, 0BB, 0R, 0 ER
Upper Dauphin: Grow (L)--7IP, 9H, 2K, 10BB, 9R, 6ER
PB -- Henninger. Illegal pitches -- Grow. T -- 1:44.
Records: Claysburg-Kimmel (18-4); Upper Dauphin (14-9).