http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/
FROM KEITH GROLLER
Before he talked to one of the reporters on Monday night after his PIAA 2A first round playoff game at Pates Park, Pen Argyl softball coach Bill Schankel made the walk from his team's first-base bench to shallow left field.
He wanted to say something to St. Basil Academy pitcher Nicole Eberhard.
"I thought she was the best pitcher we've faced all year and I wanted to tell her that," Schankel said. "She did a heck of a job."
But the St. Basil Academy defense didn't do a "heck of a job."
The Panthers had costly errors in the fifth and sixth innings that allowed Pen Argyl to score runs in each inning and forge a 2-2 tie.
Then in the bottom of the seventh, Brittany Ruch punched a 1-1 pitch for a two-out single to right to score pinch-runner Colby Werkheiser for the game-winning run as the District 11 champion Green Knights rallied for a 3-2 win in the first round of the state tournament at Pates Park.
Pen Argyl (20-5) advances to the PIAA 2A quarterfinals for the second straight year. The Knights will play District 3 champ Susquenita, a 10-1 winner over Swenson in Monday's first round. That game will be played on Thursday.
"I'm so proud of our team because we don't quit," Schankel said. "We got some breaks and we got out of some jams like in the top of the seventh. We just had to concentrate and work through it."
St. Basil Academy (13-6) bunched four hits in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. Kiera Peters and Eberhard singled in runs.
Pen Argyl, meanwhile, had the lead-off batter on base in three of the first four innings, but didn't score.
But then in the fifth, Alyssa Weaver had a two-rout single and scored when Emily Smull's routine flyball to left was dropped for an error and a Green Knights run.
In the sixth, Madisyn Einfalt singled and St. Basil made another error on Rachel Warren's sacrifice bunt. Pen Argyl then got the tying tally on a routine fielder's choice grounder to third as Einfalt beat the throw home.
Saint Basil had runners on second and third with two out in the seventh, but Smull (15-3) got No. 2 hitter Abby Carter on a groundout to short to end the threat.
That set the stage for the bottom of the seventh when Alyssa Hout was hit by a pitch with two out and pinch-runner Colby Werkheiser stole second before scoring on Ruch's single to right.
"I needed to be confident and needed to forget my other at-bats since I was 0-for-3 at that point," Ruch, pictured at right, said. "You think 'Oh my gosh, how am I going to do this?' but you have to stay confident. I didn't lose confidence all night. Even down 2-0, I knew we'd come back. We'll always do our best and fight back."
Ruch, a senior, doesn't want her career to end.
"I never want to leave," she said. "We need to keep working hard and practice hard. You can't take anything for granted. I am just happy we're playing another game on Thursday."
Pen Argyl lost by a 6-0 score in the second round of last year's tournament to eventual 2A state champ Brandywine. Susquenita could be just as tough.
"We'll enjoy this tonight and tomorrow, but then we'll go to work on the next game," Schankel said. "The kids want this. If you hear our bench, we're live and we're ready and our slogan is 'No one makes the last out.' It has come down to that last out a couple of times here at the end of the year."
Schankel felt good about his team, but also praise for Eberhard.
"She threw hard and spotted the ball," he said. "She got a lot of inside calls and she kept putting the ball there. She was consistent. We had trouble handling that. She worked in and out and we didn't get a lot of good swings, but we found a way in the end."
St. Basil Academy 002 000 0 -- 2 8 4
Pen Argyl 000 011 1 -- 3 5 1
Eberhard and L. Brogan; Eberhard and Kresch.
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