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DUBOIS, Pa. – Putting pressure on the defense.
That is what DuBois Central Catholic did all afternoon in a 9-2 PIAA Class 1A quarterfinal win over District 6 champion Glendale.
Starting in the first inning when Kayley Risser singled, stole second and third, and scored on a bloop double to right by Emma Suplizio, which was really a single that Suplizo turned into a double, the Lady Cardinals took the extra 60 feet every chance they got.
“He (DCC manager George Heigle) is always saying look for the extra base,” Risser said. “If I was an infielder (on the opposing team) I don’t think I would like that very much. You have to know where everyone is all the time.”
The aggressive base running helped DCC build a 4-0 lead after just two innings, and the Lady Cardinals were never threatened on their way to earning a PIAA semifinal berth for the fourth time in the past five seasons (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 – there was no season in 2020).
DCC will meet the same time it has in each of the first three trips – West Greene, a 6-5, 10-inning winner over Cambridge Springs, Monday, June 14, at a site and time to be announced.
“We have worked so hard to get here,” Risser, a freshman who was in seventh grade when DCC beat West Greene two years ago to claim its first-ever spot in the PIAA title game, said. “I think it is the goal from day one. I am just really happy to be here.”
Risser was in the middle of the action all day long going 4-for-4 with a hustling double of her own and four runs scored while being named the Allegheny Grille of Foxburg Player of the Game.
“I was really just seeing the first pitch,” Risser said. “It was always fastball down the middle. He (the umpire) had a really low strike zone, so I wasn’t swinging at anything really high at the beginning of the game. She (Glendale pitcher Kyla Campbell) was spinning the ball a little bit, but that is about it.”
DCC scored in all but one of its at-bats, as the Lady Cardinals offense continued to hum right along collecting 10 more hits. DCC has scored at least seven runs in 12 of its last 13 games, although it did see its streak of double-digit scoring end at eight games.
“We have been working really hard on it,” Risser said. “That’s our main thing. We hit for two hours a day, sometimes almost every day.”
Risser wasn’t the only DCC Player having fun at the plate.
Suplizio and Jessy Frank each had two-hit days as well with Suplizio going 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and three RBIs, and Frank going 2-for-3.
Overall, eight of the nine members of the Lady Cardinals starting nine had either a hit or a run scored.
That was plenty of support for Morgan Tyler.
Tyler allowed two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out 10.
“She just spins the ball so well,” Risser said. “It’s so nice because she gets so many outs on her own.”
Watch Risser’s full postgame interview
Campbel took the loss going six innings allowing nine runs, seven earned, on 10 hits, a walk, and a hit batter while striking out three.
Lilley Vereshack led the Viking offense going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while Alyssa Buterbaugh went 3-for-3 with two runs scored.
DCC is now 21-2 on the year and has won 10 in a row. Glendale finished the season 15-8.
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