Stinson

BELLWOOD — One of the best rookie performances ever recorded in a baseball game was when Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood struck out 20 batters against the Houston Astros in 1998.

Bellwood-Antis freshman Lainey Stinson had a performance similar to Wood’s on Monday afternoon, albeit, Wood had his 20 strikeouts over nine innings.

Stinson, who is a fireballer like Wood, struck out 19 in a complete-game 7-0 shutout of Hollidaysburg at George O. Martin Memorial Field.

To make things even better for the freshman phenom, Stinson also helped herself at the plate when she crushed a two-run homer down the left-field line in the fourth inning.

“I’ve never had a game like that,” Stinson said. “I felt like myself out there.”

“I’ve done this for 17 years, and I’ve never seen a player that is the total package like she is,” Bellwood-Antis coach Heather Quick said.

In 21 outs over seven innings, only a handful of Hollidaysburg at-bats saw the ball put in play. The Lady Tigers got two hits — a soft single through the left side from Leah Hammel, and a hard hit up the middle from Mikaylah Vincent.

Vincent and Hammel also had the two outs that didn’t result in a strikeout.

“Stinson is the best pitcher we’re going to face all year,” Hollidaysburg coach Mike Harris said. “Bellwood has a really good team. I thought for 4½ innings our kids battled and they played really well. But against a team like this, you strand runners, walk leadoff hitters — that’s not going to go over well.

“We’ve seen good pitching all year. She’s the best one, though. We’ll see her for three more years. We better get used to it.”

The only time Hollidaysburg threatened was the top of the second inning when Rylee Murtiff reached on an error and Hammel singled to put runners at first and second. A wild pitch moved the runners up a base, but Stinson struck out the next three hitters to keep the Lady Tigers scoreless.

From that point, Hollidaysburg only had two more baserunners — a walk to Hammel in the fourth inning and the base hit by Vincent in the sixth.

Bellwood got on the board in the first inning with an RBI single from Abby Clabaugh to plate Karlie Sweigert.

Hammel, the Lady Tiger lefty pitcher, kept Bellwood off the board the next two innings. After a leadoff walk to Palynn Gregg, Stinson crushed a 2-run homer that barely stayed fair down the left-field line to give the Lady Blue Devils a 3-0 lead.

“I was just happy to contribute runs for the team, and be a little more comfortable out on the field,” Stinson said.

“She’s a solid hitter,” Quick said. “No matter what, she can spray it all over the field. She works hard, so it’s nice to see her get paid like that, and help herself and help her team.”

The Lady Blue Devils added on four more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Palynn Gregg knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly, while Stinson and Snyder added run-scoring singles. Snyder’s base hit drove home two runs.

Hollidaysburg dropped to 6-10 on the season. The Lady Tigers visit Forest Hills on Thursday.

“We’re getting better as the season goes on, and we’re battling,” Harris said. “We just have to keep battling and keep getting better.”

Bellwood (12-3), which plays five games in five days this week, hosts Chestnut Ridge this afternoon.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (0): Hicks cf 300, Peacock 2b 300, Vincent lf 301, Murtiff c 300, Hammel p 201, Chandler 1b 300, Gearhart 3b 300, Pope ss 200, Mitchell rf 200. Totals — 24-0-2.

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (7): Sweigert 2b 120, Martin ss 401, McKee 1b 311, Clabaugh dp 312, Gregg cf 110, Stinson p 312, Snyder lf 301, Conlon lf 000, Johnsonbaugh 3b 300, Taylor c 300, Moore (flex) rf 000. Totals — 24-7-7.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Hollidaysburg 000 000 0–0 2 1

Bellwood-Antis 100 240 X–7 7 1

HR–Stinson (BA). RBI–Clabaugh, Gregg, Stinson 3, Snyder 2. WP–Stinson. LP–Hammel. SO–Stinson (BA) 19; Hammel (H) 5. BB–Stinson (BA) 1; Hammel (H) 4.

Records: Hollidaysburg (6-10); Bellwood-Antis (12-3)