Jun. 5—BERLIN — The Shade softball team certainly made its presence known with a six-run outburst in the fourth inning to take an eight-run advantage against unbeaten Meyersdale in Friday’s District 5 Class 1A championship game.
Seeking its first district crown, Shade was in strong position to deliver a knockout blow.
However, No. 1 seed Meyersdale answered with an eight-run rally in the fourth inning to force a tie. The Red Raiders followed with four more runs in the fifth and seven in the sixth to pile up 19 unanswered runs on their way to earning a 20-9 victory in six innings at Berlin Brothersvalley High School.
“It was definitely different from how the season was going,” said Meyersdale senior Tara Knopsnyder, who was pulled from the circle with one out in the top of the first inning, but more than made up for it at the plate with a 4-for-4 effort that included two doubles, four runs scored and two RBIs.
“We were really biting our nails there. We just had to, in that moment, decide whether we were going to stay down or if we were going to get up and get it moving. We chose to get it going. We had to get everyone on the same page.”
Meyersdale (22-0) meets District 6 runner-up Williamsburg (15-4) at 3 p.m. Monday at Windber to begin the PIAA Tournament. Shade (17-5) encounters District 7 champion West Greene (18-2) in the first round at 1 p.m. Monday at Peterswood Park in Peters Township.
“What a game. Obviously, we didn’t start out the way we wanted to,” Meyersdale coach Tim Miller said. “But there’s no give-up in the girls. I told them, ‘Let’s just stay in this. There’s no hole in the boat. We’re good.’ Wow, that one inning, we hit the heck out of the ball.
“For our seniors, they really wanted it. They’ve led this crew this year. My daughter is a senior. I’ve been with these girls since they started out in second grade. I really wanted it for them. It was big for them. Hats off to Shade, they came ready to play. Fortunately, it’s been seven years since they beat us. I thought there for a second, there was a glimmer that I thought they had our number today, but the girls dug deep and did what they needed to do.”
Meyersdale, which has claimed five District 5 titles in the past six contested seasons, compiled 21 knocks with every starter providing at least one hit as eight players drove in one run or more in the contest. Freshman Isabella Donaldson was not overwhelmed by the moment as she pitched 52/3 innings in relief and struck out eight batters to earn the victory.
“That I need to be dominant,” Donaldson said of her mindset of toeing the rubber with her team down 3-0 in the top of the first inning. “That I need to hit my spots and mow ’em down. As they were cheering, it brought me more fire.”
No. 2 seed Shade jumped ahead 3-0 in the top of the first inning. McKenzie Baer provided a two-run single, and Tara Corradini doubled in a run.
Meyersdale got on the board in the third on Alix Tipton’s RBI single to center field. Tipton finished 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
Shade responded with six runs in the fourth. Taylor Rapsky contributed an RBI triple off the fence in right field, and scored on a passed ball. Cassidy Mauger (three hits) brought in a run with a single to center. Corradini (two hits and four RBIs) blasted a three-run home run to left to give Shade a 9-1 advantage.
Finding itself in a rare deficit, Meyersdale, averaging 11 runs per game entering Friday’s contest, came out swinging in the bottom of the fourth inning. Olivia Miller (two hits) started the scoring splurge with an RBI single off Baer, the pitcher, to drive in Zoe Hetz (3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs). Emily Abraham (two hits) started a string of six consecutive singles. Abraham, Knopsnyder, Tipton and Laurel Daniels (two hits and two RBIs) all drove in runs. Twelve batters came to the plate in the breakout frame.
Corradini relieved Baer after Daniels’ RBI single with one out in the inning.
“Honestly, I take a lot of responsibility for it,” Shade coach Jason Baer said. “I kept waiting for an out there in the fourth inning, but I never should have let McKenzie out there. You can’t give up eight runs in an inning in a championship game. I just kept waiting for that pop out and it never came. I should have pulled her a lot earlier than I did. But I left them tie it up, gave them all the momentum.”
Meyersdale never relented. In the fifth, Donaldson (3-for-5 with four RBIs) and Daniels delivered RBI singles. Hetz drove in two with a single to left.
In the sixth, Meyersdale put the game away with eight more runs. Knopsnyder plated a run with a double off the fence in left. Donaldson blasted a no-doubt, three-run home run to left-center. Shelby Hetz then hammered an 0-2 offering to the hillside in left field for a three-run homer, ending the game via the 10-run mercy rule.
After being pulled in the first inning, Donaldson helped her team at the plate in a big way.
“Once you get pulled out, you get frustrated,” Donaldson said.
“Playing before when I got pulled out in other games and shutting down, that hurts the team and you end up losing in those games. I just had to be mentally strong and just tell myself, ‘You can’t do that.’ You just got to get up and give your hardest whether I’m playing short or in the batter’s box, support those other girls so they don’t get down.”
Jake Oswalt is a copy editor for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @TheWizOfOz11.