In the bottom of the ninth in Thursday’s PIAA Class 1A quarterfinal between Claysburg-Kimmel and Holy Cross, a timeout was called just before the Lady Bulldogs’ Isabella Paris delivered a pitch to the Lady Crusaders’ Claire Helring. Paris threw the pitch not knowing a timeout was called, and Helring blasted the pitch over the fence for what would have been a walkoff home run.

Although the home run didn’t count, the timeout still ended up working in the long run as Helring reached base and later scored on a Kiera Bauman RBI single to eliminate the Lady Bulldogs, 6-5, at Williamsport’s Elm Park.

Holy Cross coach Joe Ross confirmed that his team was calling a timeout to ask if the previous pitch to Helring was a ball or strike.

“The first base umpire started waving her hands. At that point, they were locked in and ready to pitch,” Ross said. “She was like three steps in front of first base, and the third base umpire heard it, so they’re waving it off. Naturally, she hits a home run.

Claysburg-Kimmel’s Isabella Paris gets ready to pitch in the early going against Holy Cross. Mirror photo by Andy Stine

“I said to the umpires after the game, ‘I have to say something.’ I’ve never seen that happen in my lifetime, and it was in the ninth inning. It was the right call.”

“I saw her calling time. She threw the pitch and she hit the home run,” Claysburg-Kimmel coach Mike Barbarini said. “There’s nothing you can do if they’re calling timeout. She got a hold of that one, and thank God there was a timeout.

“It didn’t matter, but it gave us another shot anyway.”

Although Helring blasted the home run that didn’t count, she still recovered to get a one-out base hit. McKinley Griffiths followed with a base hit to put runners at first and second.

After Paris got the second out on a strikeout, Kiera Bauman ended the game with a walk-off base hit to center field to score Helring.

It was an especially tough pill to swallow for the Lady Bulldogs, which had a 5-3 lead going to the bottom of the seventh inning.

Holy Cross’ Peyton Graboske homered to lead off the inning, but that was the only hit that the Lady Crusaders had in the frame.

Two errors in the inning cost Claysburg the tying run, which came in on a Bauman groundout.

“It’s a tough one to lose when you have it in your pocket,” Barbarini said. “Defensively we had some miscues, and it looked like we were playing a little tight. It’s routine balls we should have made plays with, and we didn’t. With a game like this and these caliber of teams, you can’t get away with that.”

The game was a rematch from last year in the same PIAA quarterfinal round, one which also went into extra innings with Claysburg taking a 5-4 win in eight innings. The Lady Bulldogs trailed 4-0 in that game last season, but rallied to tie the game before Paris hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth inning.

“I can’t say enough about Claysburg-Kimmel, not only with the way they play, but the way they conduct themselves,” Ross said. “I’m really proud of how we conduct ourselves, and I think we do things the right way. But it’s an absolute pleasure playing against a program like that because they play the game the way it should be played.”

Paris helped herself in the top of the first with a two-run homer to get her team on the board.

The Lady Crusaders got one back in the bottom of the first, but Claysburg added on in the third with a 2-run double from Harlee Harclerode to put the Lady Bulldogs up 4-1.

Holy Cross got the two runs back in the bottom of the fourth, which included a solo homer from Bauman.

Claysburg got its final run in the fifth on an RBI single from Launa Musselman to put her team up 5-3.

After Musselman’s base hit, Claysburg managed to get just three hits the rest of the way.

“Execution — I preached that all year, and we just didn’t execute well enough to win,” Barbarini said.

Holy Cross will go on to play District 11 champion Tri-Valley in the PIAA semifinals. Tri-Valley defeated Bucktail, 13-4, on Thursday.

Claysburg graduates four seniors in Musselman, McKenna Black, Payton Hinish, and Jaylee Swindell. The rest will return, but it will be without Barbarini, who confirmed his retirement to the media after the game.

NOTES: The bottom of the order was clutch for Claysburg. The Lady Bulldogs’ Harclerode, Musselman, Hinish, and Zailee Bush, the 6 through 9-hitters, were a combined 7-for-16 in the game. … Holy Cross pitcher Ava Schmidt, who also opposed Paris in last year’s game, struck out 11 Lady Bulldogs in her nine innings of work. … Tri-Valley also has four players graduating, which includes Schmidt, who will continue her career collegiately at Moravian University.

CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (5): Crissman 2b 500, Black c 421, Paris p 532, Swindell ss 501, Rightenour 3b 400, Harclerode cf 402, Musselman dp 402, Hinish 1b 402, Mortimore pr 000, Bush rf 401, Francona (flex) lf 000. Totals — 39-5-11.

HOLY CROSS (6): Schmidt p 513, Kolcharno 2b 502, Galella ss 500, Graboske c 511, Helring lf 412, Griffiths cf 411, DeSantis 1b 500, Bauman 3b 512, Fitzpatrick dp 311, Myers (flex) rf 000. Totals — 41-6-12.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Claysburg-Kimmel 202 010 000–5 11 3

Holy Cross 100 200 201–6 12 1

2B–Harclerode, Hinish, Bush; Schmidt. HR–Paris; Graboske, Bauman. RBI–Paris 2, Harclerode 2, Musselman; Galella, Graboske, Griffiths, Bauman 3. WP–Schmidt. LP–Paris. SO–Paris 7; Schmidt 11. BB–Paris 3; Schmidt 1.

Records: Claysburg-Kimmel (20-5); Holy Cross (21-3).