Lady Vikes hold on and advance
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By Rich Murawski
For The Mirror
ALEXANDRIA -- A pair of young pitchers dueled Tuesday in the District 6 Class 1A quarterfinals as Juniata Valley sophomore Braelyn Hall and Glendale sophomore Hannah Simmers each racked up 11 strikeouts and kept the opposing offenses guessing throughout the game.
But in the end, it was the visiting Lady Vikings' speed on the base paths and a wild play in the seventh inning that pushed Glendale to a 6-5 victory over the Lady Hornets in the third meeting between the teams this season.
Glendale won the first matchup, 13-3, on March 25, while Juniata Valley took Game 2 in game affected by weather that took two days to complete and ended up with a 29-20 final.
"Hannah Simmers has just stepped up," Glendale coach Bruce Vereshack said. "She pitched a really good game for such a young girl. She's pitched in two district playoff games now and I couldn't be more proud of her and the rest of this team with the way they hustled and made plays when they needed outs. And we were really aggressive on the base paths and took advantage of every opportunity there was to score runs."
That was evident in the seventh inning when a series of events turned a 4-4 game into a 6-4 lead for the Lady Vikings.
With Madison Peterson on third base after leading off with a single and advancing there on an error when Alexis McNitt reached on a one-out fielder's choice, Glendale put the suicide squeeze on with Jaylee Beck in the hole 0-1 and the Lady Viking No. 6 hitter put the bunt down the first base line.
Juniata Valley was able to make the initial play, nabbing Peterson at home, but McNitt pushed the issue as she rounded second and headed to third and caused an errant throw that went to the outfield.
With speedsters McNitt and Beck on base, they both motored all the way around the bases to score two runs on the error and give Glendale the 6-4 advantage.
"Speed kills," Vereshack said. "We had put two fastest girls on base and that's hard to deal with. That was the difference in the game."
Juniata Valley head coach Robbie Hall was in full agreement.
"Speed kills," he said. "It makes you do things you probably shouldn't. We'll get that corrected. I attribute that to the youth, just the inexperience with the speed of the game."
Juniata Valley was far from out of the game, however, as it got a one-out double from Abby Sneath, who smoked the ball down the third base line, and an RBI single from Kassidy Watson with two outs to cut the Lady Hornet deficit to 6-5.
But Simmers, much like she was able to do throughout the game, made the pitch she needed to get out of trouble, getting a popout to shortstop Jayden Fry to end it.
The Lady Hornets took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third, thanks to another Watson RBI single and a two-run double off the bat of Brooklyn Harman.
That score held up until the top of the fifth as Hall was keeping the Lady Vikings offense subdued. Hall allowed just three singles through the first four innings and struck out six, including five straight at one point.
But Glendale came alive in the fifth, which started with a walk by Kaprice Cavalet and was followed by four consecutive hits (doubles by Macy Snyder, Fry and Peterson and a single from Caitlyn Rydbom.
Two runs scored on Fry's hit and one was pushed across on Peterson's.
"We started two-strike hitting," Vereshack said. "Jayden Fry had two strikes on her and she laced that ball to right field that scored two runs, and that woke everybody up.
"And a couple other girls got in there and fouled five, six balls off and we started running the pitch count up, making their pitcher work."
Hall had only thrown 63 pitches through four innings, but racked up 31 in the fifth and another 23 in the sixth.
"In this heat, that just kind of wore her down," Hall said of his pitcher. "That's a testament to (Glendale). They wore her down, but up until the fifth inning, she had them. I'm pleased with how she pitched. I thought she pitched a great game."
Juniata Valley regained the lead with one swing in the fifth as Bethany Devore led off with a solo home run.
Glendale tied the game in the sixth when Ava Weld scored on another error after she started the rally with a one-out infield single.
Glendale improved to 11-10 with the win and advance to play West Branch Thursday in the semifinals.
Juniata Valley ends the season with a record of 10-8.
"This team is young, but they played a hell of a ball game," Hall said. "We only have one senior next year. We're loaded with sophomores and we have three freshmen. This team is young and I'm telling you we're going to be good in the next couple years. They're good right now, but they will get better. They don't like this, they don't like losing. So I expect them to put the work in over the winter to make sure they get to where they want to be."
GLENDALE (6): Fry ss 3022, Rydbom c 4020, Kaufman cr 0100, Peterson 2b 4021, Buterbaugh 3b 4010, McNitt lf 3100, Beck cf 3100, Weld rf 4110, Cavalet 1b 2100, Snyder dp 3110, Simmers p (flex) 0000. Totals: 30-6-9-3.
JUNIATA VALLEY (5): Hall p 4010, Sneath rf 4220, Devore 1b 3211, Watson c 4122, Harman cf 2012, Mease 3b 3000, Ersek ss 3010, Sager 2b 3000, Entrekin lf 2000. Totals: 28-5-8-5.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Glendale 000 031 2--6 9 0
Juniata Valley 003 010 1--5 8 5
Errors--Sager, Watson, Ersek, Harman, Mease. LOB--Glendale 6, Juniata Valley 6. 2B--Snyder, Fry, Peterson; Harman, Sneath. HR--Devore (solo, 5th). SAC--McNitt. SB--McNitt. HBP--Devore (by Simmers), Entrekin (by Simmers). WP--Simmers. PB--Watson.
Pitching
Glendale: Simmers--7 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 11 SO.
Juniata Valley: Hall--7 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 11 SO.
WP--Simmers. LP--Hall.