HS Softball: Williams Valley routs Tri-Valley, clinches Division II title
Williams Valley's Sage Smeltz heads toward the plate and her teammates after hitting a three-run home run in the first inning of Thursday's 15-0 win over Tri-Valley. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
TOWER CITY — Here’s what you need to know about Schuylkill League Division II softball this week:
Williams Valley 31, Schuylkill Haven/Tri-Valley 1 in a pair of three-inning, 15-run-rule games.
Thursday, the Vikings dismissed the Bulldogs 15-0 to clinch the Division II championship in front of a huge crowd at Lee Reiser Field. Williams Valley stopped Schuylkill Haven 16-1 in three innings Tuesday.
With those victories, the Vikings (17-1, 12-0 D-II) wrapped up the Division II crown and the bye into the semifinals of the Schuylkill League playoffs that goes with it. Williams Valley, which shared the division title with Tri-Valley last season, won its first outright division championship since 2019.
The Vikings have won nine in a row since their only loss of the season to Pine Grove on April 6.
“It sends a huge message about where we’re at right now,” Williams Valley coach Ryan Underkoffler said. “We’ve worked hard all year long to get to this point. We know who we can possibly face in districts, who we can possibly face in leagues. So we want to send a message to everybody that we’re legit.”
Sage Smeltz slugged a three-run home run — her sixth of the season — in the first inning and tossed a one-hit shutout to lead the Vikings.
In the circle, Smeltz faced the minimum nine batters because she started a 1-6-3 double play that ended the second inning. She struck out five and walked none to become the all-time strikeout queen at Williams Valley with 357. Smeltz and Lisa Shomper entered the day tied with 352. Stevie Unger had 336 strikeouts in three seasons but lost her senior season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smeltz holds or is approaching a slew of Williams Valley career records. She already leads in career RBIs with 136. Others: Smeltz has 141 career hits (Rayanne Hawk 146); Smeltz has 36 doubles (Krista Zerby 39); Smeltz has 53 extra-base hits (Hawk 57); and Smeltz has 44 pitching wins (Unger 46).
Just like in the first meeting this season, Williams Valley jumped on Tri-Valley (12-4, 9-3) in the first inning. Ella Kobularik led off with a single, and Kayla Hand reached on an error. Winning a seven-pitch at-bat, Sage Smeltz crushed a three-run blast way over the left-field fence for a 3-0 lead. Ally Underkoffler, back in the lineup after yet another surgery, rapped an RBI single to make it 4-0.
“That’s our whole goal,” Ryan Underkoffler said. “It takes the pressure off us, and we want to put the pressure on that other team. Getting that lead, and the bats we have, we’re able to do that every game fortunately. So it’s huge. It relaxes us.”
In the second inning, the Vikings added three runs as Quin Smeltz hit an RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch.
Williams Valley ended the game with an eight-run third inning. Quin Smeltz and Underkoffler laced two-run singles, and Olivia Hand and Kobularik added RBI singles. Kobularik finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Sage Smeltz, Quin Smeltz and Underkoffler all went 2-for-3 with three RBIs; Olivia Hand went 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs; Delaney Bixler went 2-for-3 with a run scored; and Cierra Brill doubled and scored for Williams Valley.
Myah Schwalm’s second-inning single was Tri-Valley’s only hit. Despite the loss, the Bulldogs clinched a Schuylkill League playoff berth.
