North Penn-Liberty uses sixth inning rally to down Wellsboro 4-2 in district semi-finals.
By: Chris Manning | Towanda Daily Review | May 28, 2017 | Photo courtesy Chris Manning
2017 NTL and District 4 News
TURBOTVILLE — For North Penn-Liberty, beating Wellsboro has always been a bridge too far.
Their Tioga County rivals have always been able to hold them off — especially this year when it looked like the Mountaineers were going to finally get that monkey off their back — but they've never been able to cross that bridge.
Until Saturday that is.
Down 2-0, North Penn-Liberty scored four unanswered runs in the top of the sixth to earn the 4-2 win in the District IV, Class AAA softball semi-finals.
"It feels great," Mountie pitcher Savanah Doney remarked. "It's one of the best feelings I've ever had."
Those two close losses this year were definitely on the players' minds.
"We said we were going to get them when we go to districts," said Emily Strange.
"We finally got the win in the game that really counted," added Doney.
It was on coach Lynn Grinnell's mind as well.
"We played Wellsboro twice this year and two good games," he remarked. "Games we should have won ourselves."
They lost the first 9-6, and the second 5-3, with errors playing a big part in both setbacks. While they had a couple errors this time, they weren't debilitating mistakes.
While the Mountaineers were celebrating, Wellsboro was shaking their heads, likely wondering how this one got away.
"Today was a tough one," said Hornet coach Ron Brought. "Statistically we out-performed our opponent in multiple areas, including hits, had runners on base in five innings and didn't commit any defensive errors. We also had a handful of hard hits that unfortunately went right at their outfielders."
The Mounties got big catches from Brooke Harvey and Mackenzie Heater during the game.
"They did great," Doney said. "I was so proud of them."
Grinnell noticed his team's tough defense as well.
"Every girl contributed defensively somewhere," he said. "They all talk and they all support each other and that's what we needed to do."
Wellsboro pitcher Alyssa Yungwirth had a hard time finding the strikezone in the first two innings. She racked up 41 pitches, but allowed no hits as she hit her groove from the third through fifth innings.
She allowed just two walks and one hit as North Penn-Liberty struggled to make good contact.
"Alyssa is one of the best pitchers in the league up home," remarked Grinnell. "Taking nothing away from Savanah. Savanah is a great pitcher."
Then in the sixth, everything changed as the Mounties had five hits, three of them extra base hits, and pushed four runs across. By the end of inning, Yungwirth had gone over 100 pitches for the game, but Brought doesn't think fatigue was a factor.
"Lyssi is so strong and generally gets stronger as the game progresses," he explained.
The Green Hornets looked to get on the scoreboard first as they got runners in scoring position in the first and second innings, including a first and second with no outs in the second, but failed to move them across.
Then in the bottom of the third the Hornets struck.
Yungwirth led off and reached on an error. The Mounties would get her at second on a fielder's choice, but Cathryn Brought followed that up with a walk to put runners on first and second.
Brianne Keane then hit a slow roller up the middle into center field. It was fast enough to get past the Mountaineer infield, but stalled in the high grass of the outfield to allow Sydney Tremper to score from second.
Doney was able to get Hailey Neal to strike out, but Heidi Zuchowski came through with a hard hit up the middle to score Brought giving Wellsboro their 2-0 lead.
Things stayed that way until NP-Liberty's big top six.
Starting at the top of the order, Carmen Bates hit a 1-1 pitch into the gap in right-center field. She rounded second hard to try and turn a sure double into a triple when the relay throw hit her in the back. Wellsboro wasn't able to make a play on her and Bates gave the Mounties the jolt they needed.
"It felt good to get that hit," said Bates. "The first two (at bats) I was up there, I was in my head. Then coach told me the third time up to bat to just get in the box and swing like I know how to and it worked."
As she rounded the bases someone told her to stretch it into a triple.
"I was aiming for second and they said third," she explained.
That was the big momentum booster the Mounties needed.
"Our heads got down and we just needed someone to pick us up, and Carmen hitting that triple got us going and we were going to hit the ball," said Strange.
Harvey then punched a bunt between the pitcher's circle and first. That not only allowed Bates to score but Harvey reached safely to keep the rally going.
Doney followed with a double to right field to put runners on second and third. Heater then hit a comebacker to Yungwirth as she threw Harvey out at home to preserve the Wellsboro lead.
But Doney moved up to third while Heater sneaked into second to put both runners in scoring position.
Abby Heatley then brought Doney in on a sacrifice fly to right field, knotting the game up at 2-all.
Strange then doubled into the left-center gap to score Heater and give the Mounties the lead. She would take third base on a pass ball.
That was big as Smith singled up the middle allowing Heater to jog home and make it 4-2.
Yungwirth got Jillian Berguson to fly out to end the inning.
Having seen her twice this season and twice through the line-up was all NP-Liberty needed to finally get their timing down.
"That did really help," said Strange. "We hit her before and we knew we could hit her now."
Doney and defense took them the rest of the way. Singles by Yungwirth and Brought in the seventh put runners on first and second, but a 1-3 putout on Keane ended the game and pushed North Penn-Liberty to places they've never been before.
"We set a school record for wins today," explained Grinnell. "We've never been beyond this point in school history. It's uncharted territory, but a lot of these girls are on travel ball teams so they've been with the pressure. So we're feeding off those girls now."
NP-Liberty will be playing Mifflinburg on Thursday in the final at Moser Complex.
Doney bent but didn't break in the circle. She struck out three while allowing seven hits, two walks and two earned runs on 94 pitches.
"I just had to throw as many strikes as I could and try and get them to hit balls that my players could field," she said.
She and the Mountie defense stranded nine Wellsboro base runners.
She also went 2-for-3 while Bates, Harvey, Strange and Smith had the team's six hits.
Yungwirth finished with 123 pitches, striking out seven while allowing six hits, three walks and four earned runs.
Three Hornets had multiple hits on the day — Brought (2-for-3), Keane (2-for-4) and Zuchowski (2-for-3) — while Hailey Neal (1-for-3) had the other hit.
While these teams compete against each other during high school, in the summer many of these girls are teammates. Grinnell feels that his players' travel play was key to his team's success this season.
"They know what they need to do," he explained. "They know their positions. We have a few girls that aren't on travel ball, but they all feed. Everybody coaches each other and it makes our job easier."
