Hungry for No. 9
Lady Raiders begin quest toward another district titleBy JOHN DIXON —For the Express
Article Photos
Prior to the start of the playoff encounter, Kashurba returned after exchanging lineups Bellefonte’s bench and headed to the Somerset dugout. Walking past several Red Raider fans, Kashurba exclaimed, “Hi everyone. Root it up and enjoy the game.”
And the Bellefonte fans certainly did root it up and enjoyed the game. Sidisky allowed two hits, one in the second and one in the sixth, while the Red Raiders stymied for five innings and erupted for an eight-run sixth inning en route to a quarterfinal round 8-1 win over Somerset.
Bellefonte will now face Greater Johnstown at 4 p.m. in Monday’s semifinal matchup in Johnstown.
“I had all the confidence in my team that we would be able to pull this game out,” Sidisky said.
“We’ve been working hard all week in preparation for this game, and we knew we could pull this off.”
Sidisky and Somerset’s junior Autumn Yoder matched pitch-for-pitch, as Yoder nursed a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. Yoder allowed no runs on just one hit until the faithful sixth. Somerset was playing in its first playoff game in 12 years.
After both teams went 1-2-3 in the first, Somerset received a gift run when Nicole Shaffer pickled a Sidisky fastball to the hill in deep right field for a lead-off triple. Sidisky appeared to be out of the jam following an infield pop and a foul pop, but on a routine ground ball the throw was fired high and wide at first base for the Lady Eagles only run of the game.
“The play may have appeared routine but in a playoff situation nothing, is as it seems,” Sidisky said. “We never let that miscue bother us because we have the confidence that everything was going to be all right. All we had to do was stick together, get a couple of hits and runs and get ready to head to Johnstown.”
Pitching into the sixth inning, Sidisky retired 12 of 13 batters before Ashley Humbert had a lead-off double to left-center but was erased on a weird double play when Yoder popped out to Brittany Smith in shallow right field. Humbert tried to tag but was gunned down.
Sidisky (8-5) allowed the one unearned run on two hits — both extra bases — walked one, hit a batter and struck out five.
“Sidisky pitched an excellent game,” Bellefonte coach Gregg Kohlhepp said. “I won’t lie to you, I was a little concerned, but we got that big inning. We never gave up, played hard, and our defense got us out of a jam and that allowed us to get momentum back. Our defense sparked our offense. We just kept plugging away, and finally we were able to get some hits together. All that matters is what happens over seven innings. We played with a lot of heart and passion and we never once didn’t believe in ourselves.”
Nursing a 1-0 lead Somerset’s Yoder (6-7) allowed O’Connor’s base hit in the second and a walk to Emile Dauberman but came back with back-to-back strike outs. Yoder then retired 12 straight until the sixth inning.
That’s when Danielle Gomola jump-started the Lady Red Raiders’ offense with a solid one-out base hit to left-center.
Following a stolen base, Smith’s RBI single to left-center tied the game. After Erica Pooler walked, Josie Capparelle drilled a line-drive single off shortstop Shaffer’s glove for a run. Back-to-back walks to O’Connor and Dauberman and hits from Brittany Rockey, Sidisky and Gomola made the seventh inning for Sidisky a whole lot easier.
“I guess it was a pretty big hit,” Gomola said of her hit to start the Bellefonte rally. “But two hits in one inning, I don’t know if I’ve ever done that or not. I do know that once we got started hitting, they couldn’t stop us. And since it was a 1-0 game for a long time, the defense had to stay focused. We had to stay together and not let anything (error) bother us.
“We managed to stay together and we won. I guess my first hit gave us the momentum and shows everyone that Bellefonte is still a team that can get it done.”
Bellefonte sent 12 batters to the plate in the eight-run sixth, collecting six hits and three walks to advance to the semifinals.
“We had them the whole game, then we allow that big inning,” Somerset’s Kashurba said. “That was a huge error in the inning, or we would have been 1-1 going into the seventh inning.
“We were in it until the end, and it was nice to finally get the seniors here (playoffs) since we haven’t been involved for a long time. We haven’t had a lot of wins before this season.”
Sidisky walked a batter in the seventh but a pair of fielder’s choices and a strike out ended the game setting up a replay from last season when the Lady Red Raiders defeated Johnstown 1-0 for its eighth straight district title.
“Johnstown is always a tough game,” Sidisky said. “It’s always a good game when we face them, but we feel we can pull this off. There will be a little pressure on us since we are the defending champions, but they are the No. 1 seed, so it will be on them.
“All I know is we will go down there with a positive attitude.”
District VI Class AAA quarterfinals
BELLEFONTE 8, SOMERSET 1
S 010 000 0 —1 2 1
B 000 008 x — 8 7 1
S: Yoder, Emert (6) and Yoder. B: Sidisky and Poorman. WP — Sidisky. LP — Yoder. 2B: S, Humbert. 3B: S, Shaffer. MH: B, Gomola 2. Records: Bellefonte 14-7, Somerset 7-9.
