Tide bounces Devils out

By Matthew Digiacomo

June 12, 2007 June 11, 2007 11:12 pm

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SLIPPERY ROCK — Sometimes, nothing seems to go your way.
That was the case for Cambridge Springs on Monday as the Blue Devils saw their season end with a 4-0 loss to Curwensville in the PIAA Class A softball west final at Slippery Rock University.
“We got the bat on the ball, but we weren’t hitting it hard,” said Cambridge head coach Mark McKissock. “Then when we did get runners on base, we didn’t get the bunt down. And with our offense, if we don’t get the bunt down it things don’t happen.
“It just didn’t work out for us.”
Neither team hit for the first three innings.
It wasn’t until Curwensville catcher Dani Johnson hit a line drive to left that momentum finally took a side. Johnson’s liner went over left fielder Jessica Schaefer’s head for a double, and the Tide mounted the first threat of the game. Ashley Demchak made good on the threat, roping a single through the middle to score Johnson for a 1-0 Curwensville lead.
“(The girls) felt pretty confident that 1-0 would hold up,” said Curwensville head coach Allen Leigey. “I like more (runs), more is always better. But once we got the one, they thought (pitcher) Holly (Lansberry) was going to take us the rest of the way and one run was going to hold up.”
One was enough, but that didn’t stop the Tide from scoring more.
In the fifth, Samantha Haney led off with a single and Sara Clark was inserted as a pinch runner. After Ronna Knepp sacrificed Clark to second, Tess Bloom hit a ball between first and second. Spa first baseman Margo Livermore got to the ball, but rushed the throw to Brittany Becker covering first. The ball got by Becker, allowing Clark to score and Bloom to run all the way to third.
It was Livermore’s first and only error in 151 chances this season.
“We didn’t execute some things we normally execute,” said McKissock. “That’s the way the ball bounces. The ball didn’t bounce our way (Monday). Not only that, but Lansberry pitched a whale of a game.”
The Tide closed the door in the sixth.
Johnson led off and blistered a shot that cleared the center field fence just to the right of the 200-foot mark. One out later, Shannon McDonald connected on the first pitch she saw from Baer. Annie Wilson tried to run it down, but the ball cleared the wall just as Wilson smashed into the wall to the left of the 200-foot mark.
“We were in it until the sixth,” said McKissock. “And then they hit those two home runs and took the wind out of our sails. That is tough to come back from.”
But the Spa still had one more try at it.
Kristen Humes started the top of the seventh by hitting a ball that looked like it would drop just over the shortstop’s head. However, Dani Struble made a tremendous diving catch with her back to the plate for the first out. To add insult to injury, Margo Livermore’s bloop over the second baseman’s head was tracked down and caught by a diving Bloom, who ran all the way in from center. Lansberry took care of the final out by striking out Wilson.
“Holly has just been fabulous all year,” said Leigey “She just keeps getting stronger as we go deeper and deeper in the playoffs. She hits everything. I just throw the count down, the catcher shows it and she hits it.”
Johnson was the only player to notch a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with the double, a homer, two runs and an RBI. Lansberry pitched seven shutout innings, allowing one hit and hitting a batter. She struck out five.
Baer went six innings allowing six hits and striking out three. Three of the four runs she allowed were earned. Wilson, the hero in Thursday’s game against Chartiers-Houston, had the Devils’ only hit.
“Cambridge is a very solid defensive team,” said Leigey. “(Baer) does well. She was keeping them in the game and their defense kept them in the game. They were probably the soundest defensive team we have faced in the playoffs.”
Curwensville advances to the state championship game for the first time in school history. The Golden Tide will face Upper Dauphin at 2 p.m. on Friday in Shippensburg for the title. If the Tide win, it would also be the first softball crown in District 9 history.

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