July 21, 2012 7:00 a.m. CORRY —
A furious comeback attempt by the Cochranton Junior League All-stars came up short Friday night, as the locals fell 12-10 to DuBois in the opening round of the Section 1 tournament at Columbus Field.
The loss sets Cochranton up for an elimination game today at 3 p.m. against Northwestern. DuBois beat Northwestern 15-9 later in the day on Friday.
Unfortunately for Cochranton, maneuvering through the losers’ bracket is but one of the team’s present concerns.
During yesterday’s game, one of locals’ star pitchers, Katy Dunn, was injured during a homeplate collision and was immediately taken to the hospital.
“It isn’t looking good for her (Katy) to come back in this tournament,” said Darwin DuPont, Cochranton’s head coach. “We aren’t exactly sure what went wrong but when she went to slide, her foot got caught up at the front of home plate.”
Before her injury, Dunn looked like she was poised to lift her squad to the victory. Through the first three innings, Dunn was pitching phenomenally, not allowing a single baserunner to reach and striking out five batters in the process.
It wasn’t until DuBois’ second go-around that Dunn found herself in trouble. The perfect game and shutout ended in the top of the fourth via one of the more rare occurrences on the diamond. DuBois’ top four hitters completed the team cycle all while grabbing a 5-1 lead.
“I had no idea that we did that,” DuBois head coach Robert Ball said jokingly. “We usually feel pretty confident that we are going to have a big inning when we have the top of the order up.”
Lead-off batter Rachel Ball began the inning with a triple to right center. Jordy Frank would then reach on an infield single, which scored Ball.
The big blow came the very next batter when Kaitlyn Beers crushed a two-run home run to straight-away center field. The cycle was completed with Jackie Vizza’s double, who came around to score on a double by Taylor Uplinger later in the inning.
Down 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth, the Cochranton girls proved that they had plenty of fight left in them, scoring three runs to tie the game..
“They have done this all year when they get down,” DuPont said. “We have been through so many tournaments and I know they have the heart to never give up.”
Once again the top of the order delivered, but this time Cochranton was on the offensive. Brittany Jackson got the inning started with a lead-off walk, and would move into scoring position with a stolen base. Cochranton’s hot hitter on the day, Mackenzie Hawley, recorded her third hit of the game with an RBI double. Hawley would be chased home on a follow-up two-bagger by Sam Kinter.
Dunn would make her last contribution of the game with a game-tying single in the fifth. She was removed later in the inning on the play at the plate.
DuBois wasted no time regaining the lead, posting another five spot in the top of the sixth to go up 10-5.
DuBois’ Katie Zamaroski recorded her first of back-to-back two-run doubles in consecutive plate appearances in the top of the sixth.
Jackson would take the brunt of the damage the rest of the way with Dunn out.
“(Jackson) is really our only pitcher left so I have no idea what we are going to do moving forward,” DuPont said.
“I might try to see if I can suit up and go out there.”
Down 12-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the game seemed out of reach for Cochranton. But as DuPont has said all season long, his team will not go down without a fight.
After getting the first two batters to reach base, the Cochranton bench started to sense that something special might be brewing in the inning.
With runners on first and second and one out, DuBois was forced to bring in its fourth pitcher of the game, Rachel Ball. Although Ball did not allow a hit in the inning, she did not shy away from hitting the opposing batters. Two hit-by-pitches and two walks later, Cochranton was in line for a comeback.
Down by four runs with two outs, Hawley recorded her fourth hit of the game, a two-RBI single up the middle. A bad defensive throw by DuBois allowed the tying run to move into scoring position. DuBois did not want to take anymore chances, bringing in Megan Betton, who was originally pulled from the game in favor of Ball. The threat and game would end the very next batter when Kinter popped out to third base.
“Cochranton is a very good team,” Ball said. “I know that we will be running into them again and we are going to play our best because we know they are going to want revenge.”
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