H.S. SOFTBALL: Tri-Valley scorches Bucktail 13-4 to advance to PIAA semifinals
· Yahoo Sports
BLOOMSBURG — At one point in the early slog of the regular season, the Tri-Valley Bulldogs found themselves at a respectable 4-3 and coming off a 10-5 loss to the Tamaqua Lady Raiders.
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While for many it would appear as just an off day in an otherwise strong season for Tri-Valley, the loss to the Lady Raiders served as a turning point for the Bulldogs.
In their next game, Tri-Valley knocked off North Schuylkill 7-6 and has been one of the hottest teams in the state ever since, winning 15 of its last 17 games.
Their only losses in that time span came against current Class 3A semifinalists and the defending state champion, the Pine Grove Cardinals.
“We started the season out a little shaky,” Tri-Valley coach Marty Shade said. “It was cold out. We didn’t get those scrimmages in. We were 4-3. We weren’t doing well.”
“And all of a sudden, the next morning, we woke up and had to go up to play a tough North Schuylkill team and beat them,” he continued. “And we’ve been 15-2 ever since that. We’ve been playing well.”
On Thursday, Tri-Valley (19-5) continued its winning ways in major fashion, defeating the Bucktail Bucks (17-5), 13-4 at Central Columbia High School in the PIAA Class 1A quarterfinals.
Tri-Valley scored runs in each of its trips to the plate, totaling 14 hits while also collecting a pair of walks.
Liv Witmer led all batters with three hits, while Summer Cupsta, Liv Lupole, Lydia Rocichok, and Kenzie Tobin all had two hits in the win.
Lupole also led the Bulldogs in the game with four RBI while Cupsta drove in three.
Shade credits the Schuylkill League in helping prepare Tri-Valley for this caliber of opponent.
“That’s why I told the girls, we play Pottsville, Pine Grove, North Schuylkill, Tamaqua. We play all those schools in the non-league to get us ready for that,” he said. “Win or lose, it makes you better. And it shows at the end of the year, you can tell the Schuylkill League team.”
While Tri-Valley ultimately dominated the game, it was Bucktail who started the game in a big way as leadoff hitter Lola English unloaded on Bulldogs’ starting pitcher Myah Schwalm’s first pitch of the game to take a 1-0 lead.
But the deficit did not last long as the Bulldogs struck back immediately in the first inning with a two-run double from catcher Lydia Rocichok to score Alina Leonard and Liv Witmer, who reached base on a single and a Bucktail error.
The Bulldogs extended that lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second inning as Summer Cupsta sent a Carrie Ditty pitch back up the middle for an RBI single, scoring Kenzie Tobin, who reached base earlier in the inning on a double.
Liv Witmer made it 4-1 one batter later, ripping a line drive single into center field, scoring Cupsta.
In the third inning, Kenzie Tobin drove in Rocichok to extend the Tri-Valley advantage to 5-1.
Bucktail in the fourth was able to narrow the deficit to three as a blooper into right field from Hayleigh Dent scored Kendall Wagner to make it a 5-2 game.
Tri-Valley’s offensive onslaught continued in the fourth as Olivia Witmer smashed a solo home run into dead centerfield to make it a 6-2 game.
The Bucks’ best inning of the day offensively came in the top of the fifth, as they cut the Tri-Valley lead to 6-4 thanks to a double into centerfield from Eva Sockman, scoring Angel Kmetz and Makenna Stone.
But that would be as close as Bucktail could get to the Bulldogs.
Tri-Valley finished Thursday’s quarterfinals matchup, scoring each of the final seven runs unanswered.
“Every time Bucktail scored, we came right back and got a run,” Shade said proudly of his team. “We scored every inning. So I was proud of the girls for that. They never give up, keep swinging the bats.”
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Liv Lupole drove in Savanah Stiely on a triple ripped into right field before Summer Cupsta scored Lupole on a ball drilled into dead center that narrowly missed going over the fence.
Liv Wehry then got in on the action as a pinch hitter, as she provided a pinch hit double ripped into the left center field gap to bring Cupsta around to score, growing the Tri-Valley advantage to 9-4.
In the sixth, Tri-Valley added on four more.
After a pair of errors and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, Liv Lupole recorded an identical triple down the right field line, clearing the bases in the process. Cupsta later scored Lupole on a sacrifice fly.
Myah Schwalm closed out the game in the seventh with a 1-2-3 inning as she retired each of the final seven Bucks hitters to end the game.
Schwalm’s fine line in the win was seven innings, allowing four runs, two of which were earned, on seven hits while striking out 10.
Shade, looking to lead his program to its third state championship, knows the difficulty level is about to be amped up for his squad.
“It’s gonna get tough now,” he stated, looking towards Monday’s semifinals.
The Bulldogs will now take on District 2 champion Holy Cross (21-3) on Monday in the Class 1A semifinals. Holy Cross defeated Claysburg-Kimmel 6-5 on Thursday afternoon in nine innings.