The current collection of seniors (McKenna Black, Payton Hinish, Launa Musselman and Jaylee Swindell) have been raising the bar every single year.

It should come as no surprise that a senior came up with the biggest hit of the afternoon on Wednesday against Juniata Valley.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the second inning, Black delivered a bases-clearing triple to center to give the second-seeded Lady Bulldogs more than enough runs in a 5-0 victory over fourth-seeded Juniata Valley in District 6 Class 1A championship action at Mount Aloysius College.

“It is very unreal. This is something one can dream of much less winning one, and then you go and win four,” Black said of winning a district championship every year in her career. “I’m just so proud of all my girls. With this senior group especially, it’s just unreal.”

Claysburg-Kimmel first baseman Payton Hinish throws the ball after catching a pop up for the last out of the game as Zailee Bush (3), Savanna Crissman (22) and Launa Musselman (23) celebrate. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

The Lady Bulldogs added in solo homers from Hinish and Harlee Harclerode, and an outstanding pitching performance from Isabella Paris mixed in with some good defensive plays to lead to the program’s fourth straight district crown.

“The seniors, we were stressed if we were even going to have a season (with the uncertainty of whether the ninth graders would make the jump up to play varsity),” Hinish said. “So, us making it this far with the whole team that has really bonded. I’m just so grateful to be able to have that … We’ve just got to keep working hard and going for every win.”

After JV stranded two runners on base and C-K three in the first, Bulldog pitcher Isabella Paris retired the Lady Hornets in order in the top of the second inning.

JV’s Braelyn Hall got Harclerode to fly out on a deep fly ball to center before walking Musselman and Hinish.

Hall got Zailee Bush to line out to shortstop Kelsey Ersek before being replaced in the circle by Bethany Devore.

Devore hit Claysburg leadoff hitter Savanna Crissman with a pitch to load the bases, then got ahead of Black with a 1-2 count.

However, on the fourth pitch, Black launched a ball to center that got by the defense which allowed Musselman, Hinish and Crissman to score before landing herself on third base. That put the Lady Bulldogs up 3-0.

“That was a very clutch hit there,” Barbarini said. “She’s been hitting lately like that in the clutch. She struggled in the middle of the season but she’s coming around at the right time and getting some big hits for us. That’s the way a captain should be.”

After both teams went down in order in the third, each team had one hit in the fourth as the Lady Hornets managed a single by Lacey Smith before she was left stranded in the fourth.

In the bottom half of the fourth, Claysburg made its only hit count as Hinish blasted her solo homer to straightaway center field to make the score 4-0.

“Every time,” Barbarini said about Hinish’s ability to hit a home run in district championship games. “I knew (Tuesday) the way she was hitting the ball in practice, I said ‘if I can freeze you, then when we put you out there tomorrow you just hit the same way’. And she did — she squared one up.”

Gracie Smith led off the fifth for Juniata Valley with a single to left, but Paris shut down the next three in order.

“They (Claysburg-Kimmel) managed to get the timely hits when they needed them,” Juniata Valley coach Robbie Hall said. “We had runners on base a few times, and we just couldn’t get that hit to push them across. … We just couldn’t seem to string those hits together when we needed them.”

Braelyn Hall re-entered the contest as the pitcher and notched two strikeouts and a fly out to set C-K down in the fifth.

“It (starting Braelyn Hall, pulling her and then bringing her back in to pitch later) was a plan that we had before we started the game today,” Coach Hall said. “We talked with the pitchers and said we were going to go one time through the lineup with each of you, and then we’re going to roll back around just to give them (Claysburg) a different look.”

The Lady Hornets had themselves in prime position to score when Ersek singled to left field with one out.

Lexey Smith laced a single to the right-center gap that moved Ersek to third. Smith tried to stretch the hit into a double, which would have given Juniata Valley two runners in scoring position with just one out. Instead, Harclerode, C-K’s centerfielder, fielded the ball and threw a strike to second base where Crissman applied the tag ahead of Smith’s slide into the bag.

“I was totally surprised at that — down 4-0 — trying to take the extra base there,” Barbarini said. “That was definitely a gamble.”

Paris got Klohie Brown to pop up Swindell at short to get out of the inning. Harclerode smacked a solo shot to left field with one out to set the final.

JV’s Brooklyn Harman doubled to left center with two outs in the seventh before Paris got Julia Devore to foul out to Hinish at first to end the game.

Paris went the distance by striking out five, walking one, giving up six hits and leaving six Lady Hornets runners stranded on base.

“Isabella pitched a heck of a game,” Barbarini said. “They (Juniata Valley) have a lot of bats in their lineup but she stifled them.”

Claysburg, which improved to 19-4, lost games that they admit never should have happened but, according to Black, there was a silver lining to those losses.

“Those games 100 percent we shouldn’t have lost — every one was by one or two runs,” Black said. “But they are just learning lessons in the game. I think that’s something that last year when we went undefeated (until their loss in the state semifinals), we didn’t get the chance to learn. … No one likes to lose but I think that’s something was the best thing that could have happened this year because it taught us more lessons than winning the whole way through could have.”

Both teams advance to the PIAA state playoff round which begins Monday.

The Lady Bulldogs will host the winner of the game between the runner-up from either District 5 or 9.

“These seniors, all their hard work paying off,” Barbarini said. (Them) dragging the freshmen along and teaching them the game — how to act and how to play the game.”

Meanwhile, JV fell to 13-7 and will travel to DuBois Central Catholic on the same day.

“I can’t say enough about them,” Coach Hall said. “We fought the adversity bug early in the season. We had a couple of players that were day-to-day or sometimes couldn’t go. We made our way back to the finals again with everybody healthy. As far as a work ethic with these kids, it’s second to none.”

The two teams met in the district finals last year with Claysburg pulling out a 5-4 win.

JUNIATA VALLEY (0): Sager lf 000, B. Devore dh-p 300, Hall p 301, Ersek ss 201, L. Smith 1b 302, Brown cf 300, Mease c 300, G. Smith 3b 301, Harman lf 301, J. Devore 2b 300. Totals — 26-0-6.

CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (5): Crissman 2b 210, Black c 301, Mortimore cr 000, Paris p 301, Swindell ss 300, Aleah Rightenour 3b 309, Harclerode cf 311, Francona lf 000, Musselman dh 211, Hinish 1b 221, Bush rf 200. Totals — 23-5-4.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Juniata Valley 000 000 0 — 0 6 1

Claysburg-Kimmel 030 101 X — 5 4 0

E–G. Smith. 2B–Harman. 3B–Black. HR–Hinish, Harclerode. RBI–Black 3, Hinish, Harclerode. SB–Hall. LOB–Juniata Valley 5, Claysburg-Kimmel 4.

PITCHING

Juniata Valley: Hall (L) –3.2 innings, 2 H, 2 K, 2 BB, 3 R, 3 ER, 65 pitches. B. Devore — 2.1 innings, 2 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 2 R, 2 ER, 24 pitches.

Claysburg-Kimmel: Paris (W) — 7 innings, 6 H, 5 K, 1 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 78 pitches.

Records: Juniata Valley (13-7); Claysburg-Kimmel (19-4).