BROCKWAY — Sometimes in sports, championship games produce such a high-level of execution and precision that it truly becomes a shame that one team has to lose.
That could aptly be applied to the 2015 District 9 Class A championship softball game between Elk County Catholic and Smethport on Thursday.
The two teams battled for nine innings before Jolene Renwick’s bases-loaded fielder’s choice with two outs in the bottom of the ninth brought in pinch-runner Bri Weisner, lifting ECC to a 1-0 win and the D-9 title.
“Jolene hit the ball to shortstop and they weren’t going to get her,” said Elk County Catholic coach Digger O’Dell. “She was on her horse.”
The inning began for Smethport the way the previous eight started — with an out induced by pitcher Brooke Kane-Walker.
The next batter up, however, Sydney Hoffman, singled to center, bringing up opposing pitcher Abbey Bauer, the only Lady Crusader to reach against Kane-Walker until the seventh inning.
Bauer was intentionally walked and Weisner came in to pinch run and promptly teamed with Hoffman to pull off a double steal, putting runners on second and third with one out.
Smethport coach Dr. Jim Kane elected to walk No. 4 hitter Marissa Heary, loading the bases for Sophie Yanak. Kane-Walker got Yanak to ground to third baseman Alana Durphy, who calmly threw home to force out Hoffman for the second out. That ultimately set the stage for Renwick’s walk-off.
“The last inning our strategy worked well,” said Smethport coach Dr. Jim Kane. “That little bleeder got the run in. If they don’t score that we have the runner on second to start the 10th and they have the bottom of their lineup up and it looks really good for us.”
Kane was alluding to the PIAA rule that once a game reaches the 10th inning, a runner automatically begins the frame on second base.
That also explained his decision in the top half of the ninth.
Nicole Nolte came up with two outs and ripped a ball into the left-center gap. Instead of holding her at second, Kane waved Nolte to third, where she was thrown out on a perfect relay started by left fielder Sophia Viglione.
“You never make the first or last out of an inning at third base, but I was already thinking ahead to the 10th,” Kane said. “I knew if Nicole got thrown out we’d have the runner on second to start the 10th. I was playing for the next inning and thought we could shut them down for one inning and that’s why I brought her. The left fielder (Viglione) made a perfect relay to the shortstop (Heary) and they had her by a bunch.”
The chances until that point were few and far between, although there were a couple.
The best Smethport opportunity actually came in the early moments, when Kane-Walker led off the game with a double and advanced to third on an error with nobody out.
Bauer bared down, however, retiring the 2-3-4 hitters — Quinn Burdick, Katie Burdick and Nolte without Kane-Walker crossing the plate.
“It’s all about execution,” Kane said simply. “Overall we played very well. It’s a game of inches. I said on the bus ride down that I really thought it was going to come down to who gets that one break.”
After that chance for the Lady Hubbers, it was a whole lot of pitching by Kane-Walker and Bauer.
Kane-Walker retired 18 of the first 20 batters she faced, allowing just a first-inning single to Bauer and then walking the ECC pitcher in the fourth.
“Both pitchers were outstanding,” O’Dell said.
Bauer was equally impressive, setting down 13 in a row after the Kane-Walker double, a streak that was snapped by Molly Lord’s one-out infield single in the fifth.
“They both pitched extremely well,” said Kane. “I’m disappointed we didn’t hit her (Bauer) better, but I’m sure they’re equally disappointed they didn’t hit Brooke either. Both pitchers dominated the game. I couldn’t have asked for a better effort from Brooke. She was awesome.”
Neither club had a serious chance to score again until the seventh, when Nolte and Morgan Okerlund hit back-to-back singles with one out for Smethport. Bauer once again came up with big pitches when she needed to, striking out Lord and Abbey Woodard to end the threat.
Kane-Walker also wiggled out of a jam in the seventh, as Yanak, who reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third with two outs. Kane-Walker was able to get Renwick to bounce to Lord at second, as the senior infielder calmly fielded the ball and threw to first to send the game to extras.
For Smethport, it’s the second consecutive year they’ve lost in the District 9 championship game. The bright side, however, is that their season isn’t done. They will face WPIAL District 7 champion Jefferson-Morgan on Monday at North Allegheny High School in Wexford at 3 p.m. in the PIAA first round.
“This group likes each other, they’re supportive of each other and we’ll have a good time on Monday,” Coach Kane said. “I’m thrilled with the contributions I’ve got from all of them. I told them one game doesn’t define your season. It’s been a great year, but we haven’t played our last game yet.”
For Elk County Catholic, the Lady Crusaders will meet District 5 runner-up Hyndman on Monday back at Brockway.
“We get to be here Monday,” O’Dell said, adding, “There’s a good possibility we may be seeing them (Smethport) again sometime down the road.”
SMETHPORT (0)
P Kane-Walker 4-0-1-0, CF Q. Burdick 4-0-0-0, LF K. Burdick 4-0-0-0, C Nolte 4-0-2-0, SS Okerlund 3-0-1-0, 2B Lord 3-0-1-0, 1B Woodard 3-0-0-0, 3B Durphy 3-0-0-0, RF Treat 0-0-0-0, DP Brien 3-0-0-0, Totals 31-0-5-0
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC (1)
CF Schneider 4-0-0-0, RF Hoffman 4-0-1-0, P Bauer 2-0-1-0, PR Weisner 0-1-0-0, SS Heary 4-0-1-0, 1B Yanak 4-0-0-0, C Renwick 4-0-0-1, 3B Tettis 0-0-0-0, DP Evers 3-0-0-0, LF Viglione 3-0-0-0, 2B Meyer 3-0-0-0, Totals 31-1-3-1
Smethport 000 000 000 — 0
ECC 000 000 001 — 1
LOB: Smethport 4, Elk County Catholic 4; Errors: Smethport 1, Elk County Catholic 1; SB — Hoffman, Weisner; 2B — Kane-Walker, Nolte
Pitching
Smethport IP H R ER BB SO
Kane-Walker 8 2/3 3 1 0 3 7
ECC
Bauer 9 5 0 0 0 5
