PIAA Softball: O’Hara, Marple Newtown, Carroll all fall hard in tourney openers

MARPLE — The first round of the PIAA Class 5A state softball playoffs Monday turned into a nightmare that Cardinal O’Hara couldn’t awaken from.

Nobody expected the Lions to crash and burn in a 14-1 loss to Shippensburg High School in miserable 85-degree heat and humidity. But you know what they say about stuff happening.

Lions coach Dan Yohey had his fingers crossed that his squad would be able to weather a growing injury storm. The Lions were without the services of their top two third basemen, the second one getting hurt Sunday in a tournament game. That necessitated the move of right fielder Ava Dill to the hot corner.

For a while it looked like Lions center fielder Lindsey Gaithers would join them on the sideline, but she fought through a bruised foot and ankle.

When Yohey looked at the stat sheet, he could only shake his head, for this was one of those performances where you burn the game film.

“When you have five hits and five errors, you can’t win a ball game like that,” Yohey said. “It’s a tough way to end the season but we’ll start next year and get back at it.”

Lions pitcher Hayden Sissons was hoping almost three weeks of downtime from competition might rejuvenate the home team, which was unable to play games because of the way the Catholic League schedule fell. The Lions tried practicing situational play. They held intra-squad scrimmages. They knew it wasn’t the same as playing real games, and by the time they shed the rust it was too late.

After Sissons walked leadoff Greyhound batter Delaney Gilbert, Lions catcher Emily Dill nailed Gilbert trying to steal second base. But that was the only highlight in the early going for the Lions.

Sissons’ control issues continued throughout the first inning as she walked three batters leading to two runs. Olivia Lebitz doubled in one courtesy runner for the Greyhounds, and a passed ball with two outs set up a second run scored by a courtesy runner, this one on a single by Shelley Heberlig for a 2-0 lead.

The Greyhounds were ahead 5-0 after three innings, 7-0 after four and kept pouring it on. Gilbert drilled a two-run inside the park home run to highlight a five-run seventh inning for the visitors, who had 14 hits on the day, five for extra bases. Heberlig went 3-for-5 with four RBIs and Analise Musser was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and two RBIs for the Greyhounds.

“They got hit after hit, put them together and that’s what got them the win,” said Sissons, who in spite of the damage went the distance. “It’s tough. We worked hard all season and I thought we were good enough to move on in states. But things happen. They’re an amazing team with great pitching and great bats. They’re smart players. One team had to move on, and it was them.”

The stat sheet didn’t lie. The Lions gave up too many extra outs and didn’t swing the bats well enough to advance. Sissons went 2-for-3, Maddie Lee 1-for-3 with an RBI for the Lions.

Yohey is open to future ideas for keeping his Lions fresh during the gap between the Catholic League and state playoffs.

“It’s three weeks of not seeing live pitching, three weeks of not getting our pitchers work, our fielders work,” Yohey said. “The way the rules are you only get so many scrimmages per year. You can’t really play then. All the other schools are playing and we’re sitting at home waiting. It’s hard to keep girls motivated for three weeks without playing a game.”

The Greyhounds, who are the fourth seed out of District 3, are road warriors. The 3-hour bus ride to from Shippensburg to O’Hara was made easier by the school’s booster club, which raised some money for a luxury bus.

“We’re used to it,” Greyhounds coach Jarett Worthington said. “As the 14th seed in the district we’re used to being on the road. We haven’t had a home game in almost a month. (O’Hara) hasn’t played for a couple weeks. That probably had something to do with it. And we faced a good pitcher who certainly has the ability to shut a team down.”

Though the Lions will need time to put this one in the rearview mirror, the Greyhounds are on a run.

“A lot of people have doubted us,” said senior pitcher Riley Mullens, who threw a five-hitter with four walks and eight strikeouts. “What we wanted to do was prove people wrong and we gave it our all today. I told the girls before the game that this could be our very last game … but it’s not going to be. We’ve just got to put it all out there and that’s what we did. I’m just really happy about the outcome.”

In other PIAA softball games Monday:

Mechanicsburg 7, Marple Newtown 4 >> In another Class 5A tourney game, top-seeded Marple Newtown (19-5) collapsed after taking a 4-0 lead in the first inning, the visiting Wildcats (21-6) scoring one or more runs in all but one of the next six innings.

Jordyn Hannold went 2-for-3 and scored a run for the Tigers. Amanda O’Keefe (run), Grace Corner and Demitra Thompson also had hits for the Tigers, who committed four errors.

Marple pitcher Maggie Coupe took the loss as she allowed seven hits, six runs (two earned), and one walk to go with two strikeouts in 5.1 innings.

Sam Rybacki pitched a five-hitter with three walks and five strikeouts for the Wildcats. She also went 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.

Blue Mountain 4, Archbishop Carroll 0 >> Carly Marinello, Vickie Lehatto and Annette Engle had the only hits for Carroll, which fell to top-seeded Blue Mountain in PIAA Class 4A play.

Pitcher Marla Freiwald notched the win for the Eagles as she struck out nine and issued just two walks. She also went 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs.

Pitcher Dakota Johnson took the loss for the Patriots as she allowed three earned runs on seven hits while producing three strikeouts and two walks. The Patriots committed three errors.