In the movie “The Waterboy,” Coach Klein, played by Henry Winkler, admonishes his football team that they can’t rely on one player (linebacker and waterboy Bobby Boucher) to win a game.
CDT photo/Craig Houtz
Penns Valley’s Rachel Myers threw a no-hitter and hit a game-winning home run in a 3-0 win over Bellefonte on Thursday.
“Bobby can’t do this by himself,” Coach Klein exclaims. “Now, get out there and make something happen! All right, sacrifice your bodies. Go, go, go!”
As his defense heads back onto the field, Coach Klein grabs Bobby, played by Adam Sandler, and says, “Bobby, you’re gonna have to do this by yourself.”
Then Bobby goes out and forces a safety as the South Central Louisiana State Mud Dogs win 2-0.
So what does this have to do with softball?
On Thursday, Penns Valley’s Rachel Myers turned in the equivalent of a Bobby Boucher performance against previously unbeaten Bellefonte.
Myers pitched a no-hitter, striking out 12, and belted a game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning of a 3-0 win.
The senior right-hander (3-2) struck out nine straight at one point and silenced a team that had been hitting .329 and averaging 9.8 runs in its first four games. And after teammate Kasey Packer broke up a no-hitter by Bellefonte’s Emily Dauberman, Myers belted a two-run homer.
The pressure is nothing new for Myers, who has often walked to the circle knowing she was going to have throw well for the Lady Rams, who historically have had to scrap for every run to knock off an elite team.
Myers responded last season by going 13-5 for a squad that finished second to PIAA runner-up Bald Eagle Area in the District 6 Class AA tournament. Myers’ two losses this season have come against 2007 PIAA champion Philipsburg-Osceola and BEA, games in which the Lady Rams have combined for five hits and one run.
And with Myers hitting cleanup and leading the Lady Rams with 10 RBIs, it’s arguable that no one player in Centre County shoulders such a heavy burden in big games.
To Myers’ credit, she deflects any praise to her defense, though she has struck out 42 batters in 32 innings this season. “I can’t do anything without my defense,” she said Thursday. “The girls behind me played great defense.”
Myers will admit that she feels more at home on the hill this season as she has frustrated the opposition with her curveball, changeup, screwball and fastball.
“I definitely feel like I’ve improved,” said Myers, also a standout basketball player for the Lady Rams. “I feel stronger and faster.”
Penns Valley coach Don Lucas says he’s even seen improvement from Myers since March. “She’s gotten tougher from the beginning of the year until now,” he said. “... I think she has a lot more control of her pitches. She’s a smart pitcher. I don’t know that she’s a power pitcher. She’s more of a finesse pitcher. She’s going to finesse you with a curveball. She’s going to work in her changeup and sneak that fastball in on your fists.”
It was a nearly perfect combination against the Lady Red Raiders (4-1) on Thursday. Bellefonte only hit a couple of balls hard and nine of their 12 strikeouts came on swinging third strikes.
“She just kept them offstride,” Lucas said. “They couldn’t settle in on her. When that happens, good things are going to happen.”
Regardless of what happens the rest of the season, Lucas feels good to have Myers in the circle and with a bat in her hand.
“She’s just the kind of kid you want in there,” he said. “That’s the kind of kid that I tell them that, ‘If you go to war or you’re in a an alley fight or if you’re down over the cliff, who do you want holding the rope?’”
Power surge
Bald Eagle Area’s Cortney Switzer began the week among the many area softball players looking for their first home run of the season. In just two games, she’s now the Centre County leader.
Switzer crushed two home runs last Monday against Central and added another bomb against Huntingdon three days later. All three of the blasts came at Milesburg, where there are no cheapies.
Playing at the JV field last Monday, She nearly cleared the pavilion deep in left field, clanging a shot about three feet from the top.
You wouldn’t know it to look at the 5-foot-5 shortstop, but she’s becoming one of the most prolific power hitters in school history. Switzer belted four home runs as a sophomore last season. This year, she’s hitting .444 with six of her eight hits going for extra bases.
“She uses her hips very well and she extends very well,” BEA coach Dave Breon said. “Cortney is stronger than she looks. She’s a strong kid.”
Though she hit for power, Switzer was disappointed with how she swung the bat last season. She worked long and hard over the winter. “I worked on being more patient and not being out in front so much and pulling the ball,” she said. “It just wasn’t staying back.”
“She’s plain quick enough that she doesn’t need to get out there and to be reaching for the ball and pulling them all of the time,” Breon said. “We did some training things to help her understand to hit better from left-center to right-center.”
Switzer, also a standout defensive shortstop, said her power surge last week may have stemmed from one of her most frustrating days at the plate. She struck out three times and was pinch-hit for against the tricky Taylor Lesser, who led Central Mountain to a 3-2 win over BEA 3-2 in 10 innings.
“I was just so frustrated from the Central Mountain game,” Switzer said. “I wanted to get back into the rhythm.”
As for being the top home run threat in the county since becoming a sophomore, Switzer even shakes her head. “Honestly, yeah I am surprised,” she said.”
Top hitters
Through the early part of the season here are the hitters swinging the hottest sticks for their respective teams (with two at-bats per game):
Bald Eagle Area: Amber McClure .571; Bellefonte: Christina Stathes .462; Penns Valley: Katie Deardorff and Kasey Packer .444; Philipsburg-Osceola: Morgan Coble .450 and State College: Kelsey Graham and Haley Brown .500.
Walt Moody is sports editor for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4630 or wmoody@centredaily.com.
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