P-O strong-arms Penns Valley

By Walt Moody

SPRING MILLS — Philipsburg- Osceola softball coach Jim Gonder chuckles and compares himself to Star Trek captain Jean-Luc Picard.

No, Gonder isn’t ready to explore outer space on the Starship Enterprise, but he is boldly going where he has never gone before in his 26 seasons at the Lady Mounties’ helm.

With his daughter Kelsey and Chelsea Rex, Gonder has two outstanding pitchers. “I’ve had two pitchers before, but not these quality and not this close,” Jim Gonder said. “I’m kind of in new territory.”

Penns Valley became the first Centre County team to see both P-O pitchers this season and the Lady Rams didn’t have much success with either.

On Tuesday, Rex fired a two-hitter and struck out 11 as she snapped Penns Valley’s eight-game winning streak with a 4-0 victory. Rex and Taylor Harpster each belted their third home runs of the season and Katie Confer had a two-run single for the Lady Mounties (14-1), who no-hit Penns Valley 6-0 earlier in the season behind Kelsey Gonder.

“That’s more than I can expect,” said Gonder, whose team allowed two hits, struck out 19 and walked just one batter in a pair of wins over Penns Valley (10-3). “We’re very fortunate because that’s a very well-coached team and a very good team.”

Rex, who pitched well in a 2-1 loss Saturday against Bald Eagle Area, actually was ailing before Tuesday’s clash. “I was a little sore, but after I started warming up I felt really good.” the sophomore righthander said.

She was outstanding early as she blew away the Penns Valley hitters with her fastball and rise-ball. Rex (6-1) struck out seven of the first nine batters.

“Right from the start, you could tell that she was pitching good,” said P-O catcher Harpster. “The last few games, she’s really been throwing some heat. She’s also mixing up her spots and making the batters off-balance.”

Rex also opened the scoring. Leading off the top of the second, she belted a 1-0 pitch from Rachel Myers over the center-field fence to give the Lady Mounties a 1-0 lead.

Like Rex, Harpster hit a no-doubter in the third inning, a line-drive bullet well over the fence in left. “The pitch I hit over was inside and high,” Harpster said. “That’s where I like it.”

Rex ran into a jam an inning later, the only inning where Penns Valley had baserunners. Katie Deardorff led off with a single and after a sacrifice attempt failed advanced to third on Kasey Packer’s single.

Rachel Myers then grounded the ball to P-O second baseman Chasity Myers, who tagged out Packer, who was on her way to second, and threw to first to nip Rachel Myers for a double play.

P-O added two insurance runs in the fifth. After Kelsey Gonder singled and moved to second on Morgan Coble’s bunt, the Lady Rams elected to intentionally walk Harpster to bring up Confer. After a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, Confer laced a two-run single through the middle.

“She seemed to be a little jacked for that,” Jim Gonder said of Confer’s reaction to the intentional walk. “I think she knew what it meant and I don’t think she liked what it meant.”

“It just makes me pumped up to hit,” Confer confirmed. “I was ready and saying, ‘They’re going to give me a chance to bring people around.’”

Rex retired the final nine batters, three on strikeouts. “I’ve been working on certain pitches,” said Rex, who has been clocked in the low 60s. “After the Bald Eagle game, I’ve been working on different things and getting more comfortable.”

Penns Valley coach Don Lucas said he was disappointed with his team’s approach against Rex. “We’ve faced pitchers that were just as fast,” he said. “... When you step in the box, you have to be ready to hit and we didn’t show up today.

“That’s the mistake. They deserved to win and we didn’t. We didn’t hit the ball. ... She was just hauling back and bringing it and we didn’t rise to the challenge.”

Harpster and Confer had two hits each. Myers (7-3) allowed nine hits, struck out five and walked three.

“Myers is a great pitcher and we’ve been fortunate to get some hits off of her, but I’m not looking forward to playing them again,” said Jim Gonder, whose team improved its hopes of landing the No. 1 playoff seeding for the District 6 Class AA playoffs.

Despite Tuesday’s result, Lucas wouldn’t mind one more shot at the Lady Mounties. “It’s just one battle,” he said. “The war has yet to be won. Hopefully, somewhere along the line we’ll meet them again and it will be different.”