Souderton edged Central Mountain 6-5 in Thursday’s PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Messiah College, advancing to Monday’s state semifinal against DuBois. Photos were provided by Souderton Softball (Yoder/Delany).
MECHANICSBURG – Souderton’s players, always looking for new ways to celebrate, decided a quick run into the creek that ran behind the outfield fence would be a perfect way to cap off Thursday’s 6-5 win over Central Mountain in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Messiah College.
So, a quick run into the creek it was, and the Indians earned it after escaping potential disaster in the seventh inning when the Lady Wildcats – after collecting back-to-back one-out singles – had runners on second and third with their four and five batters due up.
Although brand new to this postgame scene, the Indians displayed the poise of a veteran playoff team. First it was Paige Shelly gobbling up a grounder to third, holding the runner and firing to first for the inning’s second out. Then it was Missy Wiley fielding a grounder to short and throwing to first for the game’s final out.
“Sometimes all we need to do is take a breath and just stop – we know what we’re doing, we just need to calm down,” said senior pitcher Erelle Sowers. “We know how to make the easy plays, and I think that’s what we did.
“I was getting a little anxious. (Catcher) Morgan (Yoder) saw that. Everyone was getting a little nervous, but I think everyone stepped back, took a breath and pulled themselves together to get those final outs and not let them have a huge rally.”
Sowers earned the win on the mound, scattering eight singles and recuperating from a fifth inning that saw the Lady Wildcats plate four unearned runs to trim a five-run lead to one, 6-5.
“When they come in from an inning like that, I always question them – ‘Are you ready to fight for this or we going to give up,’ and they always want to fight,” coach Steph Rummel said. “They always want it.
“I think that questioning almost gets them riled up because they want to prove to everybody that they’re going to keep working. They did what they had to do. We had a couple of errors, but we have to work harder to minimize those errors, especially following a bad call. If something is out of our control, we need to be able to shut that down a little better.”
The win vaulted the Indians into Monday’s state semifinal game against District 9 champion DuBois, a 9-5 winner over Latrobe in a quarterfinal game.
“It’s unbelievable,” Paige Shelly said. “I honestly can’t believe we’re in the final four for states. I would never have expected it. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, never.”
The Indians, who managed just six hits, didn’t exactly rip the cover off the ball against the Central Mountain duo of Rachael Shady and Emily Strouse, but they did plate a first inning run without the benefit of a hit.
Sowers was safe on an error to lead off the inning, and Paige Shelly drew a walk. Shady retired the next two batters she faced, but back-to-back walks to Dayna Shelly and Missy Wiley (RBI) pushed a run across.
That lead grew to 2-0 in the fourth. Morgan Yoder got things started when she laced a double down the left field line. With two outs, Angie Carty lined a single to left, and courtesy runner, Emma Kraus, who had stopped at third, raced home when the Lady Wildcats attempted to throw out Carty going to second.
The Lady Wildcats cut that 2-0 lead in half in the fourth, but leftfielder Dayna Shelly made sure they would get no closer, gunning down a runner at the plate attempting to score from second on a single for the inning’s final out.
“Oh my gosh, that was huge,” Paige Shelly said. “I trust my sister out there. I know her arm, and I knew she could throw it to home.
“Her throwing it in - it saved a run, and that could have been the tying run, and we’d still be playing. I’m so happy she made that throw.”
It looked like the Indians were going to coast to the win after plating four runs in the sixth. Paige Shelly got the ball rolling when she lofted a solo home run over the right field fence.
“Once I fouled that first one off, I wanted to hit it really bad, and I did,” Shelly said. “It felt really great.
“Once someone goes up and starts it, we want to keep rallying. It’s a great momentum builder.”
“It’s definitely a confidence booster,” Rummel added. “Seeing that someone on the team can do something like that, I think then the other players can step up and are more confident in their at-bats.
“We definitely want to keep the momentum on our side every single inning. Even if we don’t score, we want to make the pitcher work every inning.”
A perhaps rattled Shady hit Amanda Brush, and one out later, Dayna Shelly and Wiley drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Yoder followed and delivered her second hit of the day – this one a single to center that plated a pair.
“I’ve been thinking too much this season, and right now, during the playoffs, I’m just trying to forget about everything, clear my mind and get in the batter’s box and think, ‘I’m going to hit a line drive. I’m going to get a nice hit’ and just have confidence,” Yoder said. “I just try to pick my pitch, and if the first pitch is right there, I’m going to hop on it.”
The Indians led 6-1 after Carty, who also had a pair of hits, delivered an RBI bunt single.
“That’s something we work on all year,” Rummel said. “Every time the other team gets a couple of runs, we always try to answer that – either with one run or a couple of runs, but we always try to make them work when they do score off of us. We try to come right back at them.”
It turned out the Indians needed every one of those runs as the Lady Wildcats took advantage of a questionable call as well as an error to plate four unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 6-5 game.
“We tried to stop the momentum,” Yoder said. “We just said, ‘We can’t lose. Losing is not an option. We have to win this game.’ We had to forget about that inning.”
Neither team scored the rest of the way, and the Indians had earned a spot in the Monday’s state semifinal.
EXTRA INNINGS: It was a busy day for the Shelly sisters – who combined to account for 10 outs. Paige, who played a flawless third base, recorded seven assists while Dayna, who plays left field, had two putouts and one assist…the Indians – the lone District One team in the western half of the state bracket – are guaranteed another long road trip, but DuBois, located approximately 250 miles from Souderton, is considerably closer than if a team from District 7 had won Thursday’s quarterfinal game.
Souderton 100 140 0 6-6-2
Central Mountain 000 140 0 5-8-1
Souderton (6) – Erelle Sowers p 4-0-1-0; Alex Gaydos cr 0-1-0-0; Paige Shelly 3b 3-1-1-1; Amanda Brush cf 3-1-0-0; Haley DeLany 1b 4-0-0-0; Dayna Shelly lf 2-1-0-0; Missy Wiley ss 2-1-0-1; Morgan Yoder c 4-0-2-2; Emma Kraus cr 0-1-0-0; Savannah Bostwick 2b 3-0-0-0; Angie Carty rf 3-0-2-1; TOTALS 28-6-6-5.
Central Mountain (5) – Moriah Lindsey cf 4-1-1-1; Jessica Strouse ss 3-1-1-0; Lauren Russell c 4-1-2-0; Mariah Major 2b 3-0-1-1; Bree Hilty 3b 4-0-1-2; Jordan Kaler 1b 3-0-1-0; Rachael Shady p/lf 3-0-1-1; Avery Shaffer rf 3-1-0-0; Emily Strouse lf/p 2-1-0-0; TOTALS 29-5-8-5.
E-Souderton 2, Central Mountain 1. LOB-Souderton 7, Central Mountain 6. 2B-Morgan Yoder. HR-Paige Shelly. SB-Amanda Brush, Missy Wiley, Emma Kraus, Lauren Russell. SF-Mariah Major.
IP H R ER BB SO
Souderton
Erelle Sowers (W) 7 8 5 1 0 1
Central Mountain
Rachael Shady (L) 4.1 5 6 5 5 3
Emily Strouse 2.2 1 0 0 0 4
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