How Bellefonte softball stormed back from an early deficit to defeat Clearfield
Bellefonte pitcher Lexi Rogers found her and her team down by three in the middle of the fourth inning. With the snap of their fingers, the Red Raiders stormed back to win 7-3.
Rogers pitched seven innings, allowing three runs, nine hits and striking out 11 batters. She also contributed in the batter’s box, going 2-for-3 with a walk, flyout, an RBI single and an RBI double. She was more than pleased with the way her team answered the bell when the chips were down.
“When we were down, it was definitely hard to come back from that, but I knew that as a team, we’d all come together and pull through it,” Rogers said. “It came around for us. As we get later in the season, we definitely hit better. When we all hit, it’s together and it’s really nice to have that relief that my team’s got my back.”
Bellefonte (13-1) lost just one game all season, against rival Bald Eagle in a 1-0 loss. Since then, the Lady Raiders have won 12 straight games. According to Bellefonte coach Travis Foster, their success stems from their resiliency.
“My assistant coach nailed it when we walked out,” Foster said. “‘What a resilient win in all ways.’ Things weren’t going well, we made a couple of uncharacteristic errors that we don’t normally make and there were inconsistencies that were out of our control. I thought we did a really good job of staying focused and in the right mindset of moving forward and not dwelling on our mistakes and pushing forward.”
Clearfield scored its first two runs in the third inning, and it all started with pitcher Emma Hipps reaching on a walk. First baseman Lauren Ressler drove her in on a double, then Ressler later scored after an errant throw allowed her to score. The Bison continued with another run in the fourth inning with Ressler driving in outfielder Morgan Cheek for the 3-0 lead.
With their backs against the wall, Bellefonte began to dig out of the deficit. Sara DeHaas singled with two outs, then Makenna Port drove her in on a double. Haylie Rimmey followed up with a single to score Port, but was thrown out at second to end the fourth inning.
Finding themselves down just 3-2, the Lady Raiders tied the game in the fifth. Madison Melius singled, followed by Lily Gardner reaching on a bunt single and Tori Reichert scored Melius with an RBI single. Rogers notched her first hit with an RBI single to score Gardner. With no outs and between batters, Clearfield coach Derek Danver was ejected from the game.
Bellefonte continued its onslaught — Hanna Lauck scored Reichert on a sacrifice fly and was followed by Maddie Tice’s RBI double to give the Lady Raiders a 6-3 advantage. They closed things out with an RBI double by Rogers, plating Gardner in the sixth inning for the 7-3 victory.
Danver understood that his team had a tough matchup heading into Bellefonte. Though they dropped to 7-4 in the record book, he was pleased with their performance.
“I am proud of them. They battled,” Danver said. “That team — Bellefonte — is a phenomenal team and we took the early lead, we just weren’t able to hang on. Even later in the game, we gave ourselves some opportunities to put runs across and it just didn’t happen for us. They outplayed us today. I’m very proud of my girls and that was a great fight they displayed.”
