HOLLIDAYSBURG — This time, Carly Gonder was supposed to hit the ball.
Unlike Friday, when she hit an “excuse me” single to right to drive in the winning run against Greensburg Central Catholic instead of intentionally swinging and missing to protect a runner, this time Gonder had the green light in the PIAA Class AA softball semifinals against once-beaten Burrell and she made the most of it. Gonder went 3-for-4 and scored twice in a 5-0 win that sends Philipsburg- Osceola back to the PIAA finals.
Gonder’s first hit was a triple that landed in the left-field corner, just inside the foul line and just short of the fence. Amanda Arnold followed with a single up the middle that gave the Lady Mounties their first run and the only one they’d need, since Chelsea Rex threw a four-hitter while striking out eight and walking one.
“I thought it was over (the fence),” Gonder said of the triple. “But that’s OK, triples work for me too. I can usually tell before the game if I’m going to do well. Today I could tell I was going to hit something. And she’s (Casey Moses) a good pitcher, one of the best we’ve seen all season.”
Gonder is one of the key replacements in the P-O lineup this season, stepping in behind the plate to replace four-year starter Taylor Harpster.
“She does a great job behind the plate and she had three hits tonight,” said coach Jim Gonder, Carly’s uncle. “And she threw out a runner at third that kind of stopped them right there.”
Carly Gonder also accounted for P-O’s second run when she rapped a one-out single in the fifth, moved to second on Arnold’s sacrifice and scored when Mackenzie Wilson roped a single to left to give Rex a 2-0 cushion.
Meanwhile Rex was keeping the Lady Bucs under control as she and Moses matched strikeouts in a pitcher’s duel.
“I always feel like it’s a pitcher’s duel,” Rex said. “When you get in a game when neither team is producing runs, I try to keep it going as long as I can because I know we’ll produce runs after a while. But that first run definitely meant a lot even though I still go out there thinking it’s 0-0.”
The Lady Mounties put a choke hold on Burrell in the sixth, going to the short game to account for three runs.
Kate Burge, who made two impressive plays on defense at third, opened with a single. Pinch runner Chelsea Brown moved to second on a wild pitch and took third on Kelci Knepp’s sacrifice, one of five the Lady Mounties laid down in the game. Macy Harpster followed with another sacrifice bunt down the third base line and Brown followed third baseman Justine D’Amico down the line. When D’Amico failed to field the bunt, Brown beat the throw to the plate while Harpster went to second.
Aisha Goss then drew a walk and Gonder hit a grounder back to the mound and Moses inexplicably threw home when no runner was going there. That loaded the bases and Arnold came through in the clutch again — she finished with three RBIs — singling home the final runs of the game.
“We knew they liked to bunt, to bunt and run,” said Burrell coach Mike Spagnolo. “And our girls didn’t execute. They were able to play their game and we couldn’t take it away from them. They’re an aggressive team. They look for a little mistake and they jump on it right away. When we made a mistake they jumped on it quick.
“And they’ve got a good pitcher. She kept the ball low. She was getting the low strike and she kept it down there. She held us down, she dominated us. She looked like she was throwing in the mid-60s. She had us eating out of her hat.”
Now the Lady Mounties will be eating a pre-game meal Friday morning before meeting Brandywine Heights in the PIAA finals at Penn State’s Beard Field.
“Our goal, since the beginning of the season, was to get back there,” said Rex, who wound up losing in 11 innings to Nanticoke in last year’s title game. “Before the season I sat in my living room and watched that championship game and I was so pumped up to get back there. I can’t describe how excited I am to be going back.” As is Carly Gonder.
“I was only a runner last year,” she said. “Now that I’m part of the team it means a lot.”
This will be the fourth time Brandywine Heights has faced a Centre County team in the finals, losing to BEA in 2005 and 2009 and to P-O in 2007.
On Monday, the Lady Mounties banged out nine hits against Moses, played near flawless defense and got the usual performance from Rex, who is rounding into form.
“If we play that well in our next game, I’ll feel good,” Jim Gonder said.
