PIAA Softball: Pine Grove outlasts Kutztown in 10 innings in Class 3A quarterfinals
Pine Grove celebrates after Madison Shiffer hit a two-run home run in the 10th inning Thursday against Kutztown in a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal at Exeter Township High School. The Cardinals won 10-8. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
REIFFTON — Pine Grove’s Cardiac Cardinals did it again.
For the second time in three games, the Cards came back from the brink of defeat to pull out a victory to extend their season. Against Kutztown in a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal, Pine Grove put together a rally for the ages — actually two of them — to outlast the Cougars 10-8 in 10 innings on a sweltering Thursday afternoon at Exeter Township High School.
With the win, District 11 champion Pine Grove (25-2) advances to Monday’s state semifinals against District 2 champion Mid Valley (22-3), which routed District 12 champ Nazareth Academy 13-2 in five innings in another quarterfinal. The sites and times for the semifinals will be announced by the PIAA.
“We never give up,” senior first baseman Madison Shiffer said. “We did that in our district game. We believe until the end. It’s just amazing to move on to the next one.”
To even be in the state quarterfinals, Pine Grove had to rally for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to stun Palisades 2-1 in the District 11 championship game. The Cardinals took care of Trinity 7-2 in Monday’s PIAA first round, but District 3 runner-up Kutztown (23-5) controlled the first six and a half innings.
In the third, Felicia Oldt slammed a three-run home run over the right field fence to give Kutztown a 3-0 lead. In the fourth, Miranda Morstatt walked with the bases loaded to make it 4-0. Pine Grove, which alternated between Jamie Dinger and Chelcy Clark in the circle all afternoon, went back to Dinger with one out and the bases loaded. Dinger got Sadie Berger to line out to her, then fired to third base for an inning-ending double play.
Despite that great play, Pine Grove still trailed 4-0 heading to the top of the seventh inning.
“If you don’t believe, you don’t have a chance,” Pine Grove head coach Ryan Leffler told his team in the dugout.
Then an amazing thing happened. Six straight Cardinals — Shiffer, Addison Zimmerman, Dinger, Tailyn Bohr, Lily Flynn and Clark hit consecutive singles and Meadow Umbenhauer reached on an an error on her bunt as Pine Grove stormed back to take a 6-4 lead. Dinger’s and Bohr’s hits drove in runs, and Clark belted a two-run single to center field.
Three outs away, back came Kutztown. Two errors opened the door and plated a run, and Jade Fitzgerald tied the game 6-6 with a sacrifice fly.
Pine Grove got runners into scoring position in the eighth and ninth innings but didn’t score. Neither did Kutztown. Clark, on again in relief after Dinger left the game feeling the effects of the oppressive heat, retired six in a row to keep the game tied into the 10th inning.
Using the international tiebreaker, Hannah Aungst started the inning on second base. Before her at-bat, Shiffer had to get her hand hastily wrapped when it started bleeding. With that taken care of, all Shiffer did was launch the first pitch she saw from Kutztown’s Brianna Bauscher way over the right field fence for a two-run home run and an 8-6 Pine Grove lead.
“That’s a big senior moment right there,” Ryan Leffler said.
The Cardinals weren’t done. One out later, Dinger, who finished 4-for-5 with a double, singled to get things started again. Bohr followed with a bunt single, and the runners moved to second and third on Flynn’s sacrifice bunt. Clark followed by rocketing a two-run single off the fence in right-center to push Pine Grove’s advantage to 10-6. Clark finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs.
Still, Pine Grove needed three more outs. They didn’t come easily.
With Clark pitching and Jayden Gehris on second base, Oldt walked. Fitzgerald reached on an error when Pine Grove tried to flip the ball to second base for a forceout. With the bases loaded, Bauscher hit a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 10-7. Clark got Addison Blank to fly out, with Callee Leffler making a great running catch in right-center field.
Kutztown’s Klara Schnore kept the game alive by rapping a single to right-center to make it 10-8, put runners at the corners and bring the potential winning run to the plate.
Once again, Ryan Leffler changed pitchers, bringing Dinger in for the save. On her fourth pitch, Dinger got Ava Kutz to pop out to Aungst at shortstop to end the 2-hour, 31-minute marathon.
“What a game for these kids to be in,” Ryan Leffler said. “I’m so proud of my kids for believing in the seventh inning. They found a way. I’m just proud of our fight until the end.”
