SB eliminated from PSUAC tourney
The Penn State Fayette softball team saw its 2022 season come to an end Saturday as they were eliminated from the Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) tournament.
In the opener on round robin action, Fayette (11-17) fell 11-7 to Penn State Hazleton (17-15) and then lost a 14-13 heartbreaker to Penn State Schuylkill (24-11) in the second game. (Records are updated through play on Sunday.)
"We went in knowing exactly what we were going to see," said first-year Fayette coach Alex Rohlf. "We played two good teams that hit the ball well. We knew the key would be getting as much offense as possible. A rough first inning doomed us against Hazleton in game one. Even though we came through with a good offensive performance in the second half of the game, it wasn't quite enough. We had hoped to carry that into game two."
Hazleton scored six runs in the first inning to take control of the opener. It added one run in both the second and third innings to take an 8-0 lead into the fourth.
Fayette finally got on the board in the top of the fourth when Emily Conklin (Carmichaels, PA/Carmichaels HS) doubled in Brianna Hunt (Berlin, PA/Berlin Brothersvalley HS). In the fifth, Fayette trimmed Hazleton's lead to 8-4 by scoring three runs. Cassidy Uphold (Grantsville, MD/Northern Garrett HS) singled in a run and then Lauren Mastowski (Dawson, PA/Frazier HS) singled in two runs to get Fayette within striking distance.
After Hazleton scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to make the score 10-5, Fayette scored three more runs in the sixth. Uphold singled in two runs and then she scored on an error off the bat of Mastowksi.
Hazleton added another run in the bottom of the sixth to close the scoring.
Uphold (three singles) and Mastowski (two singles) combined for five of Fayette's seven hits, and the pair each drove in three runs.
In the second game, Fayette scored four runs in the first inning. However, Schuylkill scored a run in the second eight in the third and three in the fourth to take a 12-4 lead into the fifth.
Facing the run-rule, Fayette made a standout defensive play and it seemed to wake the team up.
"That lit a spark leading us to an eight-run inning of our own," Rohlf said. "Unfortunately, we just didn't have anything left in the tank and couldn't hold that one run lead."
After scoring a run in the fifth, Fayette scored eight runs in the sixth to take a 13-12 lead. Schuylkill tied the game in the bottom of the inning and then earned the walk off win in the seventh.
"We got off to a great start in game two," Rohlf said. "We played aggressively and were getting runs early. A bad third inning looked to doom us, but we weren't done just yet. We showed again that we were capable of making a splash."
In the first, Lauran Minerd (Uniontown, PA/Albert Gallatin HS) and Kelsey Holp (Grindstone, PA/Frazier HS) had RBI singles, and Fayette scored two unearned runs to take a 4-0 lead. After Schuylkill one run in the second, it scored eight runs on six hits in the third, and it was aided by two Fayette errors in the frame.
Schuylkill scored three unearned runs in the fourth to take a 12-5 lead, but Fayette would not give up. In the sixth, Fayetter scored eight runs on six hits to take a 13-12 lead Schuylkill aided Fayette as it had two errors in the inning. Conklin, Sammi McGhee (Hutchison, PA/Yough HS), Courtney McKlveen (Ligonier, PA/Ligonier HS), and Minerd had RBI singles in the inning while Holp had an RBI double.
After Schuylkill played small ball to tie the game in the bottom of the inning, it scored on a game-winning sacrifice fly to eliminate Fayette.
McGhee, McKlveen and Holp finished with three hits each while Minerd had two. Hunt, Minerd and Holp each drove in two runs for Fayette.
Knowing the season was over, Rohlf shared thoughts on her team's experience of making the playoffs.
"We battled so hard throughout the day with some pretty big injuries," Rohlf said. "We played both games with no subs on the bench. At the end of the day, I'm incredibly proud of the fight our girls showed in these playoff games."
For more information on the Penn State softball team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/sball/index or follow the team on Instagram @fayetteathletics.