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Claysburg-Kimmel pitcher muffles C-H

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GREENSBURG – After scoring 13 runs in a first-round trouncing of Cambridge Springs, optimism was running high for Chartiers-Houston’s softball team against Claysburg-Kimmel in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class A playoffs Thursday at Hempfield High School.

Claysburg-Kimmel was sending out Emilee Cavender, a slender junior righthanded pitcher, who was a converted outfielder. All Cavender did was step on the neck of Chartiers-Houston, striking out eight and not walking a batter.

Cavender had a string of 17 straight outs after giving up a game-starting single to right field by Chartiers-Houston leadoff hitter Ella Richey. Cavender flawlessly fielded three softballs hit back to her and had a putout.

Oh yeah, Cavender singled and scored a run in the first inning and went 2-for-3 to help Claysburg-Kimmel take a 5-1 victory on a chilly, cloudy day.

The victory sends Claysburg-Kimmel, now 21-3 and champion of District 6, to the state semifinals for the fifth time in program history. Claysburg-Kimmel has made it to the finals once, losing to Millersville.

Cavender has been a big reason for this year’s success.

“I’m not sure how many it was but she got a lot of our kids out in a row,” said Chartiers-Houston head coach Tricia Alderson. “We just weren’t swinging the bats as well as I thought we would. They played good defense. We made some mistakes that cost us some runs. When you get to this point in the playoffs, the team that makes the least amount of mistakes usually wins the ballgame.”

Maybe the best example of that came in the top of the seventh when Chartiers-Houston starting pitcher Meadow Ferri lifted a high fly ball to center field. Jenna Helsel settled under it.

Before the ball came back to earth, Helsel lost her balance, her legs went out from under her and she landed on her backside. Still, she had her wits about her, reached up with her glove hand and made the catch. It might be an ESPN Top 10 play if someone was filming it.

Claysburg-Kimmel’s defense throttled Chartiers-Houston at every turn. The Nos. 2 through 9 hitters for C-H went a collective 1-for-18.

Only Richey was able to figure out Cavender, leading the game off with that single then sending a rocket over the left-field fence for a solo home run with two out and a 2-2 count in the sixth inning.

“We made one mistake, coming into her on that last pitch,” said Claysburg-Kimmel head coach Mike Barbarini. “You have to tip your hat to her. She missed the first two fastballs but she was ready for the third. We knew if we could contain their first three batters we could be successful.”

Richey, shortstop Lauren Rush and Ferri, the Nos. 1 through 3 hitters in the C-H lineup, went a collective 2-for-9 with Richey’s home run the only run-producing effort.

Meanwhile, Claysburg-Kimmel handled Ferri, especially the bottom four batters in the lineup, who were 3-for-10 with four runs and three RBI. In the fourth inning, first baseman Zakera Bush knocked in two runs with a double to the gap in center field and designated player Launa Musselman had an RBI single to center. Musselman came around to score when Alexis Fetsko misplayed a fly ball to left field, one of four errors by Chartiers-Houston.

All the runs came with two outs in the inning.

“That’s been the case all year,” Barbarini said of the bottom of his lineup. We’ve got a lot of young girls down there. They have progressed through the season. They are all freshmen. They pulled us out the other day and they pulled us out (Thursday).”

The Bucs, who finished third in the WPIAL, ended the season with a 15-7 record. Claysburg-Kimmel and Chartiers-Houston sport three total seniors on their roster.

“The experience these girls get over the past few weeks, and being as young as we are, still you never want the season to be over,” said Alderson. “We get to this point a lot of times and we have to take advantage of it. We just couldn’t this time.”

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