BELLEFONTE — For those of you scoring at home, Philipsburg senior Haley Hayward showed up at second base to begin the 10th inning courtesy of international softball tiebreaker rules.
With Hayward’s Mounties and Bellefonte’s Lady Raiders locked in a tense, tie game through nine innings in Bellefonte, the rules stipulated that the 10th inning begin with the last batter from the previous inning, Hayward, at second base, and the next hitter in the lineup, left fielder Chelsea Henry, taking her normal turn at bat.
Thus set up, it didn’t take Hayward and Henry very long to make things happen. Henry ripped the third pitch from Bellefonte relief pitcher Rachael Bernier to the fence inside the left field line for a stand-up double that allowed Hayward to stomp on home plate with the go-ahead run.
Then, Philipsburg freshman pitcher Cam Harris made the run stand up in the bottom of the inning — with a little help from her defense — and gave P-O a thrilling 3-2 Mountain League win over the Raiders.
Just last week, the then-undefeated Mounties absorbed two sudden losses — the second one to these Raiders — but they’d since picked themselves up and strung together a three-game winning streak before this big May 3 throwdown on Bellefonte’s home turf.
The victory, as razor-close as it was, extended the Mounties’ streak to four.
“After those two losses,” Philipsburg head coach Jim Gonder said, “they weren’t down, but it was, ‘Oh, jeez, we’ve got to get better.’ The last four games the kids really have gathered up some wins. Hopefully it will help us in the long run.”
Henry’s double tipped a game that was one swing away from belonging to either team all afternoon. Bellefonte broke through first against Harris with two runs in the bottom of the third.
Jordan Rockey led the inning off with a double and then came all the way around to score on a single by Alexis Wetzler and a Mountie overthrow that went out of play. Wetzler landed on third and scored on an RBI groundout by Angela Capparelle.
The way Raider starter Tara Baney was throwing, those two runs looked very imposing.
It didn’t work out that way, however, as P-O came right back in the top of the fourth to tie the game. After Heyward singled to open the inning, stole second base, and then scored after a wide throw to first base on a ground ball by Harris.
Hannah Thompson followed with a sacrifice bunt, but she also reached on another error by Bellefonte on the throw to first base. Now on third, Harris scored and tied the game on a ground-out by Maddie Lucas.
That was it for the scoring until the 10th as Harris, Baney, and then Bernier, in relief, posted all zeros. Philipsburg had the best chances to break through when it put runners at third base in both the sixth and the ninth innings. But Baney survived the sixth when Hayward was thrown out on squeeze attempt, and Bernier got out of the ninth-inning jam when Jayde Burge was picked off at third.
As the game entered the 10th inning, the stage was set for Henry.
“When I walked up to the plate, I knew I had to stay calm,” Henry said, “and even in the last inning I knew it was going to come down to it. I knew I was the next one up and I had to steady myself.
“And when I got up there, I had to think it’s not me, it’s my team first. I knew that I could hit the ball.”
Henry did hit the ball, and P-O finally had a lead, but there was still the Bellefonte half of the inning to go.
Jenna Ault started on second base, and she was immediately sacrificed to third base. But pinch-hitter Lissi Przbys popped out to the catcher for the second out, bringing up Rockey. Rockey extended the drama with a walk, putting the potential winning run on first base and bringing up lead-off hitter Wetzler.
Swinging all the way, Wetzler sent a smoking line drive to the right side, but instead of a game-tying hit, P-O second baseman Sadie Granville snagged it at the top of her jump for the final out.
“She (Granville) made two or three plays tonight that were just unbelievable,” Gonder said. “That last play, I thought it was a base hit. There was no way in the world I thought she was going to catch that ball.
“She jumped up, and it was in her glove! Holy smokes.”
