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Faulty fielding defeats Canon-McMillan

3 min read

If defense wins championships, then errors lose them. Just ask Canon-McMillan.

The Lady Macs lost their bid to defend their state championship when they committed five errors and surrendered three unearned runs during first-round action in the PIAA softball tournament.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Cheyenne McKee socked a two-run single up the middle and thrust Dubois to victory, 5-4, over the Lady Macs in a first-round PIAA softball game played at Brockway High School.

Miscues afforded the Beavers the opportunity to clinch the win. In fact, the frame started with an error, C-M’s fifth of the game.

“Offense can get your there, but defense wins championships. That part we know,” C-M manager Michele Moeller said. “We extended a couple of innings with errors.”

Dubois (18-3) scored two unearned runs in the second inning. A lead-off walk and two throwing errors on ground balls enabled the Beavers to snap a scoreless deadlock and take the two-run lead in the third inning.

In the sixth stanza, however, the Lady Macs powered their way into the lead, 4-2, when Abby McCartney tagged a three-run homer, scoring Jada Kemp and Brittney Crawford, and Olivia Lorusso smacked a solo shot.

Dubois narrowed the gap, 4-3, in the bottom half of the sixth. A Big Mac error contributed to the score, which was set up by a double. Sierra McKee’s two-bagger was the first hit for Dubois against Tara Fowler. The junior had held the Beavers hitless through five frames. McKee, who moved to third on the misplayed ball in the outfield, scored on Regan Hann’s infield single.

For the game, Fowler allowed just four hits, all in the final two frames. She walked two.

“We hit some long balls and our pitcher did everything that we asked her to do, but we just made too many mistakes,” Moeller said.

CM registered its first hit in the fourth but could not plate a run. The Lady Macs managed just five hits and they walked once.

CM put the lead-off runner on in the sixth after a two-base error but the runner was thrown out at third on a bunt. The Lady Macs also lost a potential run in the top of the seventh.

Ally Bellaire led off with a single. Bellaire yielded to Amanda Stranges. The pinch runner advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Fowler and a throwing error on a ground ball tagged by Taylor Bruno. On what appeared to be a successful bunt single, Kemp was called out for stepping on home plate while putting the ball in play. With Stranges returned to third base, the threat ended with a fly ball to the outfield.

For the Lady Macs, the loss was the second straight in which they committed five errors. Only four days earlier, C-M lost its WPIAL title, 6-5, to Shaler. The Lady Macs finished 18-5 overall.

While the boys received a rain delay in their PIAA opener, the Seton-La Salle girls lost in the first round of the Class AA state softball playoffs.

The Lady Rebels dropped a 2-1 decision to Bald Eagle in extra innings. With two out in the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles scored the equalizer and won in the eighth on a walk-off single.

The defeat at Nittany Lion Park on the Penn State campus negated a fine pitching performance by Lauren Zola. She struck out 15 batters for the Lady Rebels, who finished the year with a 13-4 record.

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