COUDERSPORT –– Listening to Coudersport head coach Dan Counts talk, it’s fairly easy to figure out the Lady Falcons’ offensive strategy.
Just get the leadoff batter on base and then have some fun.
The Lady Falcons aced both aspects of the game plan, and behind some offensive firepower from Shaelyn Black, downed Otto-Eldred 12-2 in five innings in a District 9 Class A softball quarterfinal game Wednesday afternoon at Coudersport High School.
“We have a philosophy of ‘win the leadoff,’” Counts said. “If you get your leadoff runner on, 70 percent of the time you’re going to score on it. Our goal is to not go three up and three down. We have to produce and keep moving people along the bases.”
With the win, the 14-4 Lady Falcons move to the district semifinals to face Clarion on Thursday in St. Marys. The Lady Bobcats topped Cameron County in another quarterfinal game Wednesday.
“Enjoy the process,” Counts said. “We focus on that a lot. The hard part is gone. We’re in the playoffs and now it’s fun. This is all extra. I thought our girls relaxed fairly well tonight and let the game happen. They didn’t really tense up even when [Otto-Eldred] threatened a couple of times. They stayed right on task and finished what we needed to accomplish.”
Black led the offense, finishing a single shy of the cycle, going 3-for-3 with a double, triple, home run, six RBIs and three runs scored. EmmaRae Easton reached twice on errors and drove in two runs, while Joplin Osgood was 1-for-2 with a double and RBI and Emma Powell was 1-for-3 with a double.
Senior pitcher Madison Smith struck out three, walked three and allowed three hits for Coudersport to earn the win.
“Madison Smith threw real well,” Counts said. “She’s consistent. She got in trouble a couple times and didn’t let it get her down. She threw strikes. She only made one real mistake on pitches, and the girl (Harlee VanScoter) hit it 250 feet.”
Moving forward, Counts is trying to stress to his team to enjoy the process.
“We have to continue to hit, we have to still continue to pitch well,” Counts said. “Defensively, we’ve been pretty solid all year but we focus on fundamentals. Enjoy the process. This is great. Where else in the world can you play a sport like this…and have fun? It’s a lot of fun coaching this batch of girls.”
Coudersport was able to get their first batter on base three times in five innings. Otto-Eldred pitcher Alyssa Shelander (six hits, one strikeout, three walks) shut the Lady Falcons down 1-2-3 in the third inning, but the only other time Coudersport failed to get the leadoff runner on was in a four-run second inning.
“It’s very important that we get them on there just to roll,” Counts said. “If we can get a first batter on, more times than not we’ll get them around, if at least not, threaten.”
After Smith held Otto-Eldred scoreless in the first inning, Coudersport’s Osgood and Chelsey Streich reached on errors and were driven home by Black’s two-run double. Black scored on an outfield error from an Easton flyball, while Easton eventually scored as the Lady Falcons took a quick 4-0 lead.
In the second, Streich and Black each drove in runs as the lead swelled to 8-0. From there, the Lady Falcons cruised.
“They’re a good team,” Otto-Eldred head coach Roger Veilleux said. “You can’t come out flat against them.”
Otto-Eldred threatened in the third, loading the bases with one out. Kirsten Renninger’s infield single scored Harlee VanScoter (2-for-2, double, home run). However, that’s all the Lady Terrors (9-8) could manage, as Britney Greeley was tagged out trying to swipe home after a Coudersport catcher Macy Gleason corralled a passed ball along the backstop and threw toward home.
Black’s two-run shot came in the fourth for Coudersport to go up 10-1. It was then that Veilleux told his team to swing for the fences. VanScoter immediately did just that in the fifth, taking a first-pitch offering from Smith to right-centerfield for a leadoff homer. It was, however, the last base-runner the Lady Terrors would have this season.
In the bottom of the fifth, Easton had a leadoff walk and was followed by Annie Chambers’ single. Powell hit a walk-off double to right-centerfield, scoring Easton and Chambers to invoke the 10-run rule and give Coudersport the victory.
