BROCKWAY, Pa. – St. Marys won its second consecutive District 9 Class 4A softball championship, 10-0 over Clearfield in five innings on Tuesday.
Rewatch the game:
St. Marys scored nine runs in the fifth inning to put away Clearfield, 10-0, marking the second year in a row the Lady Dutch have knocked off the Bison for the crown.
“It’s awesome,” said St. Marys’ Molly Hanslovan, who finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the win. “We’ve been together for a long time, have been playing together for a long time and to have these achievements is pretty awesome.”
See Hanslovan’s full interview:
The game was scoreless into the fourth inning, when St. Marys’ Avery Eckles hit an RBI double with two outs to bring in Kaylen Eozzo, who singled to start the inning. Eozzo finished 3-for-3 and scored two runs.
The fifth is when the floodgates opened for the Lady Dutch. St. Marys had eight hits in the inning, and chased Clearfield starting pitcher Megan Wisor. Joell Henry came on in relief for Clearfield, but the hits kept calming for St. Marys.
In the fifth, Guiliana Muccio led off with a double and was sacrificed to third by Sophia Surra. Addy Beimel followed with an RBI single, Hanslovan an RBI double, Eozzo a single, Eckles a bases-loaded walk, Jianna Gerga single, Muccio a bases-loaded walk, Sophia Surra a 2-run double and Hanslovan an RBI double to end it.
“It’s a good problem to have,” St. Marys coach Matt Eckels said about the depth of his lineup.”They make me think, which is what every coach wants. One through nine I feel reel good about it. If we hit like we did in the last inning today, nobody can stop them.”
Ruby Singleton, Madi McBride and Aevril Hayward had three straight singles in the top of the first to start the game for Clearfield. Not only did Avery Eckels get a pop out, strikeout and line out to get out of the inning unscathed, but she didn’t give up a hit the rest of the game, either.
“That’s Avery, that’s her in a nutshell,” coach Eckels said. “She does well when she gets in a groove and she was moving forward from the first inning. She can make adjustments on her own. I wasn’t super worried. I was a little surprised, but I knew she would come back and make the correct adjustments the rest of the game.”
With the win, St. Marys moves to play Bellefonte in the District 6-8-9 subregional championship game on Thursday at Bald Eagle Area High School. The winner advances to play the WPIAL runner-up, either Elizabeth Forward or Hampton, in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament on Monday, June 3.
Bellefonte won that matchup last season, 3-2.
