UNIVERSITY PARK — The Bald Eagle Area softball team made its run to the PIAA Class 3A championship game with one of the best pitchers in the state in senior Sierra Albright, a lockdown defense and an opportunistic offense.
So it wasn’t a shock that Albright and Pine Grove pitcher Jamie Dinger got locked into an epic 13-inning pitching duel in the state championship game on Friday the 13th at Penn State’s Nittany Lion Softball Park at Beard Field.
What was a shock were BEA’s five errors and missing out on scoring opportunities in a devastating 4-3 loss in 13 innings in front of a large crowd at Penn State, including 900 BEA fans.
This one hurt more than BEA’s 12-1, six-inning loss to Everett in the 2023 championship game. Seeking their third state and first since 2009, the Lady Eagles also lost to Pine Grove, 7-3, in the 2019 state championship.
“I felt so bad for the girls,” BEA coach Don Lucas said. “Because I always feel that I could have done a little bit better helping them get the win. Those gals have accomplished so much. They’ve been through a lot in the last four years, as far as getting some great wins and taking some tough losses.
“All in all, you hope that they learned some great life lessons from it. With all the time they spent together, they have a lot of great memories down the road.”
Albright, who leaves the BEA program with a Centre County career wins record (81) and more than 1,000 career strikeouts, threw 167 pitches in the game, tossed a five-hitter, struck out 12, walked four and hit a batter. The star pitcher didn’t give up a run from the fifth inning through the 12th.
“I thought she did a phenomenal job,” Lucas said. “I could say she didn’t deserve her fate because we didn’t play as strongly defensively behind her as we had been, but that’s how that game goes.”
It wasn’t until the bottom of the 13th inning that Pine Grove (27-2), the home team, scored an unearned run. With Meadow Umbenhauer on third with one out after BEA’s fifth error, Dinger plated her with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Lucas wanted to talk with the umpires about Umbenhauer leaving too soon from third base, but they left the field immediately at the conclusion of the two-hour and 55-minute game.
“We thought she left a little early,” Lucas said. “We wanted the opportunity to at least appeal it, and the umpiring crew sprinted off the field like they normally do. I tried to get over there, but they left the field, and I wasn’t allowed to request their return. Yeah, I was a little bit upset about that.”
Dinger, who gave up 12 hits while striking out 10 and walking two, kept BEA scoreless for the first two innings. But then junior Addisyn Burns smoked a double to score two runs in the third inning.
But dangerous Pine Grove leadoff hitter Callee Leffler tripled and scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the third inning.
“[The errors] were very uncustomary,” Lucas said, “but we had sophomores at the corners and second base. They played great all year. But that takes a lot to go into a game like that and maintain your cool. We did boot the ball around a little bit, but that didn’t define us. That’s a lot of pressure.”
In the fourth inning, Dinger doubled in Addison Zimmerman to tie the score, and Dinger wound up at third on another error. Tailin Bohr singled in the go-ahead run, making the score 3-2.
Both pitchers recorded 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and the sixth, but BEA rallied in the top of the seventh. Albright led off with a double to center field, and Maelee Yoder moved courtesy runner Gabbie Perry over to third with a sacrifice bunt. Senior Taylor Habovick chased her home with a sacrifice fly to deep center field.
“Oh boy that was close to going out,” Lucas said. “Even more clutch was Sierra Albright’s base hit.”
Kendall Gavlock followed with a single to center and senior leadoff hitter Kailey Eckert, who had three hits, was intentionally walked. But Dinger induced a ground ball out for the third out.
In the eighth inning, BEA senior Sydney Thompson and Albright had singles, but Raelee Repasky and Perry were stranded at second and third, respectively.
“Throughout the game, we had numerous opportunities to plate some runs and just came up short,” Lucas said. “Whether it was a lack of execution or a lack of getting the bat on the ball, but give their pitcher a lot of credit. A lot of that has to do with her ability to keep us off balance and make us go after pitches maybe in the past we wouldn’t [go after].”
Pine Grove had runners on second and third in the ninth inning, but third baseman Repasky gloved a wicked line drive for the third out.
The international tiebreaker rule, which puts a runner on second base beginning in the 10th, put more pressure on the pitchers.
In the bottom of the 10th, with Hannah Aungst on third bases, Umbenhauer put down a squeeze bunt but Albright gloved the ball and tossed to catcher Eckert, who put the successful tag on Aungst.
BEA wasn’t effective in the bunt game as it had been in previous games. In the 11th, Yoder got a sacrifice bunt down, but another was popped up for an out.
“We didn’t execute that as well as we have in the past,” Lucas said, “but [Dinger] was making it difficult for us to do that. With her up pitch, she had a lot of spin on the ball, and if you got underneath it even a little bit it was going to go in the air.”
There was more drama in both frames of the 12th inning. In the top of the 12th, Habovick was called out after attempting to steal third base, which BEA disputed.
“Replay showed she was safe,” Lucas said. “But he’s making an in-time call. I’m on the side where she’s always going to be safe. It could have been the turning point, but saying that, we had numerous opportunities for that not to be an issue. We should let a good or bad call determine the outcome of the game.”
Gavlock followed by singling and reaching second on an error. Eckert was intentionally walked and Burns reached on an infield hit to load the bases with one out. But Dinger induced a line-out to shortstop and a fly ball to left to get out of the jam.
In the bottom of the 12th, PG’s Lilly Flynn dropped a one-out squeeze bunt down, but Repasky gloved and flipped to Eckert, who tagged Nicole Morgan out at home for the second out.
“Eckert just played excellent,” Lucas said. “The second one I was surprised that they did because we were playing up. We were probably in a better position than we were the first time. Albright did a good job gloving the ball. She didn’t try to field it. She tossed it with her glove. We practice that all the time with her.”
That left to the heartbreaking loss in the bottom of the 13th.
“They got it done, so kudos to them,” Lucas said of Pine Grove. “At the very end, they capitalized on a couple things that we didn’t do.”
The Lady Eagles finished the season with a 22-4 record. They entered the state playoffs riding the momentum of a fourth straight District 6 title.
“We had a heck of a year,” Lucas said, “and the seniors had a heck of a career.”
