Rams butt Mount out of softball tourney

by TOM UTESCHER

After dropping below the .500 mark by losing a Catholic Academies semifinal game two weeks ago, Mount St. Joseph Academy's softball Magic were happy just to be included in the field for the PIAA District 1 Class AAA Tournament.

Traveling to sixth-seeded Spring-Ford High School for a first-round game on May 24, the 27^th-seeded Magic fell behind the Rams 9-0 in the first two innings. Scoring in the top of the fourth, the locals prevented a shutout and avoided an early end to the game in the fifth inning, but the contest concluded in the next frame when Spring-Ford scored to make it 11-1.

The Rams, the PAC-10 champions, moved on in the tournament with a record of 18-3, while the Mount called it a season, winding up 9-11 overall. Spring-Ford pitcher Heather Rush went the distance, striking out two batters, giving up one walk and seven hits, and weathering a pair of errors by the defense around her.

The Magic only made one official error, but in the first inning alone they gave up five bases on a combination of steals, wild pitches and passed balls. As a result, the Rams only needed four hits to score six runs during that frame, with singles by Taryn Carmody and Megan Allebach each producing two RBI's.

Spring-Ford's Rush was not untouchable, and in the first two innings MSJ's Anna Sibel, Sarah Woodbury, and Liz Trinkle all recorded singles, but the visitors couldn't move a runner past second. With one out in the bottom of the second, the Rams had the bases loaded with two hits and a walk when the Mount replaced starting hurler Maria Gordon (1K, 4BB, 6H) with Jess Clark (2K, 2BB, 3H), who finished the game. Before the frame ended the hosts scored on an error, another Allebach hit, and a sacrifice grounder to make it 9-0, but they would only collect two more runs the rest of the way.

After each team went down in order in the third inning, the Magic posted their lone run with a two-out rally in the top of the fourth. Jackie Seidler lifted a single into shallow center, then went to second base as Mary Fannon reached first on an infield error. Trinkle then drove in the run with a Texas-league single to left field. The Rams got the run back in the bottom of the inning, and the 10-1 count stayed on the board until the middle of the sixth.

Leading off the home half, Spring-Ford's Tina Mazzone drew a walk and went to second on a wild pitch. Kim Meehan then grounded out, but the Mount muffed an attempt to nail Mazzone as she went to third. The ball rolled into foul territory and the Rams runner scored to make it 11-1, bringing the game to an end via the ten-run lead rule.