ARCHBALD \u2014 Different score, same result.<\/p>\n
Northern Lebanon made the 140-mile trip up Interstate 81 on Monday afternoon, looking for a different conclusion to the trip than last year\u2019s shutout loss to Valley View.<\/p>\n
In a first-round PIAA Class 4A softball matchup, the Vikings found disappointment once again as the defending state champion Cougars (21-3) claimed another victory, this time a 5-0 decision compared to last season’s 1-0 count, on their home diamond.<\/p>\n
“It’s just a shame, we come up here two years in a row and couldn’t score a run,” Vikings coach Bob Bashore said. “You can’t win if you don’t score.”<\/p>\n
Clemson recruit Abbi Call pitched a six-hit shutout, striking out 13 while not walking a batter. The Vikings (20-6) had runners in scoring position twice, Addison Hollenbach in the first inning, Alyssa Shirey in the seventh.<\/p>\n
Both singled, Hollenbach with two out, Shirey leading off. Both were left stranded as Call worked her strikeout magic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI scouted her, and the guy said, \u2018You got to be patient with her,\u2019 \u201d Bashore said. \u201cShe was on her game today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shirey (2-for-3) lead off the Vikings second with a single. Call struck out the side. Mykenah Johnson reached on an infield single leading off the fifth. Call struck out the side.<\/p>\n
Steph Palkovic reached on a one-out, bad hop single through shortstop in the sixth. Call got out of the inning on a pair of ground balls.<\/p>\n
Shirey singled off Call\u2019s ankle in the seventh and took second on Mckenzie West\u2019s single to right field. Call got back-to-back strikeouts and the game was over.<\/p>\n
For all intents and purposes, the game was over two batters into the Cougars first. Hollenbach walked Ella Swingle to lead off the game. Cora Castellani scored her with a triple to the fence in center.<\/p>\n
Hollenbach got the first two of her 10 strikeouts and a popup to the circle to end the inning, but the die was cast.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe made two mistakes,\u201d Bashore said. \u201cWalks always come back and get you. But she kept it at 1-0 for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the fourth, Call reached when shortstop Keira Palski dropped her popup to short. Normally the Vikings\u2019 second baseman, Palski rotated to short when Sophia Roye rolled an ankle during pregame warmups.<\/p>\n
In Palski\u2019s defense, the ball comes at you differently at that position. Added to that, an impressively stiff wind blew through the valley and in from left field, carrying the ball away from Palski.<\/p>\n
Call went first-to-third on Maggie Hallet\u2019s hit. Hallet stole second, then took third on Zoie Krupovich\u2019s RBI sacrifice fly to center, scoring Call. Hallet then came home on Ashlyn Palickar\u2019s groundout to short.<\/p>\n
The runs were unearned but on the board, making the Vikings\u2019 task all then much more difficult. Mady Minelli tripled leading off the fifth, scoring on Neveah Evans\u2019 safety squeeze bunt. Third baseman Addison Kubica quickly pounced on it, but her only play was to first.<\/p>\n
Call led off the sixth with a majestic solo home run, cutting through the breeze and well out of left. It was a cruel end to Hollenbach\u2019s scholastic career as she allowed just four hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe pitched great!\u201d Bashore said. \u201cShe\u2019s been good all year, facing good competition, the Kennard-Dale star (Taryn Ashenfelter) and this girl here. I told our four seniors, \u2018You\u2019ve been part of four straight section titles, two district finals and two state bids.\u2019 How many kids can say that?\u201d<\/p>\n
The four seniors \u2014 Hollenbach, Kubica, Shirey and West \u2014 leave a legacy for next year\u2019s Vikings to aspire to.<\/p>\n
\n Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.\n <\/p>\n
\n Error! There was an error processing your request.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARCHBALD \u2014 Different score, same result. Northern Lebanon made the 140-mile trip up Interstate 81 on Monday afternoon,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[93,19609],"class_list":["post-141424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-lebanon","tag-softball"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116678366527762203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}