Lady Bulldogs cruise to district gold, trip to state tournament
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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
EBENSBURG -- Home runs provide instant offense which often gives a team a dramatic boost.
On Wednesday evening, Claysburg-Kimmel rode the strength of three home runs to its second consecutive District 6 Class 1A softball championship.
Junior second baseman Bella Francona blasted a two-run homer in the second inning and a solo homer in the sixth, and freshman third baseman Savanna Crissman chipped in a two-run homer in the fifth, as second-seeded Claysburg-Kimmel rolled to a 9-3 championship victory over top-seeded West Branch at the Central Cambria High School softball field on an overcast, chilly and drizzly evening.
Claysburg-Kimmel (22-1) won its seventh District 6 softball championship in school history -- all under veteran head coach Mike Barbarini, who has guided the program for 24 seasons. The Lady Bulldogs avenged their only loss of the year, a 9-0 setback at the hands of West Branch early in the regular season, and also bested West Branch in the district championship game for the second straight year.
Claysburg will move on to the state playoffs this upcoming Monday afternoon, hosting WPIAL fourth-place finisher West Greene.
"It's a relief,'' Barbarini said of his team's ability to defend its district championship. "It's been a great season. These girls have all grown as individual players and collectively as a team. To win today after losing 9-0 to West Branch during the regular season just shows how much our team has improved.''
Francona had four homers during the regular season before belting the two round-trippers on Wednesday.
"She hits the ball hard,'' Barbarini said of Francona. "She has a lot of doubles and triples this season as well as home runs. She usually drives the ball, and she really squared up two pitches for home runs today.''
After two West Branch errors led the way to two unearned runs for Claysburg in the top of the first inning, Francona gave the Lady Bulldogs a 4-0 lead in the second inning by unloading her first home run of the game, over the left field fence, in the second inning, after senior pitcher Emalee Cavender had reached base on a fielder's choice.
"It's great winning two years in a row, it feels nice,'' said Francona, who also had an infield single in the first inning and said that she now needs just three hits to reach 100 hits for her high school career.
West Branch (20-3) carved the Claysburg lead in half in the bottom of the third inning, pulling to within 4-2 on a two-run homer to right-center field by sophomore left fielder Mackenzie MacTavish, scoring Kaley Woodring, who had singled, in front of her.
Claysburg responded with three runs in the fifth inning. Jaylee Swindell reached second on one of five West Branch errors in the game, and scored on a single to center by Zakera Bush. Caitlyn Helsel was inserted into the game as a courtesy runner for Bush, and she scored when Crissman cracked her big two-run homer to center field, giving Claysburg a 7-2 lead.
"Savanna is only a ninth-grader, but she hit a big home run there that gave us a little more separation in the game,'' Barbarini said. "Every time (West Branch) would get closer, the home runs allowed us to add on against them.''
West Branch scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning to pull to within 7-3, but Claysburg promptly scored two more runs in the sixth inning on Francona's mammoth homer to left-center field and Launa Musselman's RBI single that scored McKenna Black, who had reached third base on a West Branch throwing error.
"Hats off to Claysburg -- they did a great job tonight,'' said West Branch coach Tim Wesesky, whose team faces the District 9 runner-up in the opening round of the state playoffs Monday. "They hit the ball and found some gaps tonight, and we generally weren't able to do that.''
Senior standout Cavender pitched a complete game for the Claysburg victory, spacing seven hits while walking three batters and striking out three.
"This was a total team effort,'' Cavender said. "I am proud of each and every one of my girls. This was a win that we had wanted all season, and we worked very hard for it.''
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (9): Cavender p 411, J. Helsel cf 421, B. Francona 2b 423, Black c 410, Musselman dh 301, Swindell ss 410, Zak. Bush 1b 401, C. Helsel cr 010, Crissman 3b 411, Zail. Bush rf 200, Hinish ph 100, A. Francona lf 000. Totals - 34-9-8.
WEST BRANCH (3): Bainey 3b 300, Graham cf 402, Gable c 301, Koleno cr 000, Moore p 400, Thompson 2b 201, C. Wesesky 1b 300, Butler rf 300, Woodling ss 322, MacTavish lf 211. Totals - 27-3-7.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Claysburg-Kimmel 220 032 0--9-8-1
West Branch 002 010 0--3-7-5
HR—B. Francona 2, Crissman, MacTavish. RBI--B. Francona 3, Musselman 2, Crissman 2, J. Helsel, Zak. Bush. SB--Cavender, B. Francona. SAC--C. Wesesky, MacTavish. LOB--West Branch 7, Claysburg-Kimmel 6. HBP--Musselman (by Moore).
PITCHING
Claysburg-Kimmel: Cavender (W) 7IP, 7H, 3R, 2ER, 3BB, 3SO. West Branch: Moore (L) 7IP, 8H, 9R, 3ER, 1BB, 9SO.
Umpires: Mike McDermott (plate); Bruce Legros (first base); Tony Olsavsky (second base); Bill Zamboni (third base).
Records: Claysburg-Kimmel (22-1); West Branch (20-3).
Time of game: 1:51.