Lady Eagles advance to quarters

By Walt Moody

- wmoody@centredaily.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Maybe it was caused by a post P-O letdown, a hangover from Saturday's prom or a steady diet of tough pitches from Bishop Canevin's Jamie Kertes, but the Bald Eagle Area softball team didn't open the PIAA Class AA playoffs hitting on all cylinders Monday.

Craig Houtz

Bald Eagle Area starting pitcher Megan Shaw fires to the plate against Bishop Canevin of the PIAA first round playoff game on Monday, June 1, 2009.

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But thanks to Megan Shaw’s right arm and a couple of giftwrapped runs from Kertes’ infielders, the Lady Eagles are moving on to the quarterfinals. Shaw fired a two-hitter and BEA scored two-unearned runs to defeat Bishop Canevin 3-1 at Legion Park.

BEA (21-3), a PIAA finalist last season, will face WPIAL runner-up Sto-Rox on Thursday at a site and time to be determined. Sto-Rox (19-5) defeated District 5 champion Chestnut Ridge 7-4 on Monday.

Lady Eagles coach Dave Breon said he was worried how his team would perform following Friday’s emotional 7-4 win over rival Philipsburg- Osceola in the District 6 title game.

“I was concerned with the adrenaline high from coming off of Philipsburg, that we might have a little bit of a letdown game,” he said. “That’s such a big game. After playing Philipsburg, you come into your first round and think it should be easy. This was a hard-fought game.”

“I think that we were all pretty pumped up from Friday’s game, but we really didn’t bring it today,” said center fielder Jasa Mitchell. “I tried getting them a little up, but it was kind of hard.”

Kertes (15-4) didn’t make it any easier. The sophomore right-hander with a herky-jerky windup allowed five hits, walked one and struck out one.

“She started off throwing us all inside and then she goes outside,” Mitchell said. “It was kind of hard to adjust to what she was doing.”

“She was sneaky quick and she had a lot of motion,” Breon said. “We thought we would see a lot more off-speed stuff and we didn’t. She came out firing. What made her effective was the fact that she didn’t throw over the middle of the plate.”

The contest was scoreless until BEA broke through to score two in the bottom of the fourth. Brooke Klinefelter led off with a bad-hop single, the Lady Eagles’ only hit of the inning. After an out, Shaw reached on an error by shortstop Joie Hrapla as courtesy runner Amber McClure took second.

With runners at first and third after a force out, McClure scored as second baseman Jen Karabinos booted Margaret Rouguex’s two-out grounder. Janelle Poorman scored when Hrapla kicked Cortney Switzer’s grounder.

“We had the problem in the last game we had, too,” said Bishop Canevin coach Bob Jacoby, whose team fell 2-0 to eventual champ Riverside in the WPIAL semifinals. “We had errors and that’s what the problem was.

“I thought both pitchers pitched pretty well today. There were some hard hits at times, but you’ve got to be able to field the ball. We just didn’t field it.”

The Lady Crusaders (15-4) got one back the next inning, but Shaw got out of a sticky jam that proved to be the difference in the game.

Kertes reached on an error to open the inning and Shanna Quinn followed with a blast to the fence in right-center field for an RBI double. Bishop Canevin bunted Quinn to third, but that’s where she stayed. With the infield in, Shaw fanned Lisa Abbott on four pitches.

“I wasn’t trying to strike her out,” said Shaw, who later struck out Heather Kaczorowski on four pitches to end the threat. “I was just trying to throw good pitches so she wouldn’t hit the ball hard. I had total confidence in my defense.”

Both coaches said the two strikeouts were the key to the game.

“I think you could see Megan reach back and give a little extra on those couple of batters,” Breon said. “That was huge. If they score that, who knows what happens? The momentum might have been rolling their way.”

“That was a big one,” Jacoby said. “We bunted her over and all we had to do was make some contact. They’re bringing the infield up. Shame on us — we didn’t make contact.”

Jacoby was impressed with Shaw (16-2), who fanned eight and did not walk a batter.

“She was in control,” Jacoby said. “She didn’t get flustered if there was an error or somebody hit the ball pretty good. That shows a maturity that maybe we didn’t have in the field.”

Shaw, who won her 10th career postseason game, said experience helps — some. “It takes a little pressure off because I’ve been here before, but every game is still a big game,” the senior said. “I still get a little butterflies.”

BEA broke through for a legitimate run in the fifth. Mitchell led off by yanking an inside pitch deep down the left field line for a double.

“I was struggling with that pitch all day,” Mitchell said. “That made me feel a lot better about today.”

Klinefelter followed with a bloop single to right to plate Mitchell with her 29th RBI of the season.

The Lady Eagles concluded the contest like the way the started the game — with a double play. Shaw started a 1-6-3 double play to end the contest. The Lady Eagles also had a 6-4-3 double play in the first inning.

Kertes, who beat Sto-Rox 5-1 and 6-0 this season, stranded four runners in scoring position, including Rougeux, who tripled to right-center in the second.