By JOEL WHETZEL
DUBOIS — For the Otto-Eldred softball team, a typical win this season was comprised of three essential parts: consistent pitching from Abby Wolfe, strong defense behind the freshman ace and scoring that often came in bunches from a potent offense.
On Saturday, Wolfe brought some of her best stuff by striking out three, walking none and giving up just four runs on 11 Clarion hits over seven innings of work. Meanwhile, the defense committed only one error on 31 balls put into play.
But the Terror bats couldn’t come to life as 1-seed O-E (18-4) fell to 2-seed Clarion (17-5) in the District 9 Class A “true second” consolation game, 4-0.
Entering Saturday’s matchup, the Terrors were averaging just over 10 runs per game, but Clarion’s hard-throwing ace Kaitlyn Constantino silenced the O-E offense to the tune of no runs on just two hits — singles by Emmalee Sheeler and Gabby Nickerson.
She struck out 15 of the 23 batters she faced during her complete-game shutout, walked none, and only one Terror baserunner managed to get into scoring position on the day, and that was on a Clarion throwing error.
“She was a little bit quicker than what we’ve seen all year,” O-E coach Roger Veilleux said of Constantino. “She moved the ball around, we chased a little bit, and you can’t take anything away from her. She was dominant in the circle.”
The performance makes for a nice rebound for Constantino after Clarion’s 7-2 loss to DuBois Central Catholic in the District 9 championship on Wednesday. In that game, DCC posted seven earned runs on eight hits and four walks against her.
The difference in the performances, according to Clarion coach Dan Shofestall, was in her command. Of Constantino’s 77 pitches against O-E, roughly 80 percent (62) were strikes. By contrast, she hurled 125 pitches against DCC, and just under 65 percent (81) were strikes.
“Kaitlyn has done this pretty much all year,” Shofestall said. “When she’s on, she’s pretty dominant, and that was the name of the game today. She pounded the strike zone, and her different pitchers were working.”
Her teammates, meanwhile, struggled to solve Wolfe at first before Brenna Campbell’s RBI triple in the top of the third got the Bobcats onto the board. Jordan Best doubled that lead to 2-0 on an RBI single in the fifth, and then Best struck again in the top of the seventh for an RBI triple to extend the lead to 3-0.
Tori Vega grounded into a sacrifice 4-3 putout to score Best for the final 4-0 tally.
“We had some clutch hits, and Jordan had the big one,” Shofestall said. “We’re young in a lot of areas, but we fight in there.”
And while that four-run cushion was plenty enough for Constantino, things could have been worse for O-E had Wolfe and the Terror defense not stranded eight Bobcat baserunners on the day.
“Abby put the ball where it needed to be, and all year we’ve trusted our defense,” Veilleux said of the stranded runners. “That’s how we’ve played all year, and that’s how it will be for us from now on.”
With the win, Clarion’s fourth in five games, the Bobcats move on to the PIAA state playoffs for the first time since 2016. Their first-round game is on Monday against District 10 champion Commodore Perry (12-6). That game will be at Slippery Rock University at 12:30 p.m.
The loss concludes what Veilleux considers to be an otherwise successful season for the Terrors. This year saw O-E take home a share of the Northern Allegheny League championship alongside Coudersport, and the Terrors return much of the core nucleus.
However, this year’s seniors — Nickerson, Harlee Vanscooter, Autumn Smith, Haylee Frederick and Britney Greeley — will be hard to replace, Veilleux says.
“This was a great success for us this year,” he said. “We’re going to miss our seniors quite a bit, but I believe we have the talent on our team and coming in to do this again next year.”
