SOFTBALL: Cumberland Valley's lead too much for Chambersburg to overcome
FAYETTEVILLE >> The Chambersburg softball team has some positive things going on, like hitting prowess and a spirit of not giving up.
But mistakes and errors have proven hard to overcome in some games, and that includes a 9-7 Mid Penn Commonwealth Division defeat at the hands of first-place Cumberland Valley on a chilly Thursday afternoon at Norlo Park.
"That's one we should have had," Trojan co-coach Ted Bittinger said. "That's been the story of our last couple of games – errors and dumb stuff has really hurt us."
A case in point: CV (10-1, 8-1 MPC) held a 9-5 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Alyia Kauffman led off with a double ripped to rightfield. Leah Hunt pounded a ball over the fence in left, but it was foul. She then knocked a single to score Kauffman. Laken Myers produced the third hit in a row, and Hunt scored when the ball got past the leftfielder to make it 9-7.
Another error by the Eagles put Sam Bender on base. After one pop-out, Caeley Etter hit another pop fly to the shortstop, and that turned into a game-ending double play when the courtesy runner from second inexplicably ran to third.
"We made it a little more interesting than I wanted to see," CV coach Gregg Williams said. "There at the end we booted a couple, but we did get some help from them."
Another key play came in the third inning after the Eagles had tied the game 2-2 on a triple by Taylor Haupt. With two runners on and two outs, Alison Noga lifted a pop-up barely into foul ground near third base. But the ball dropped without even being touched and several pitches later Noga drilled a triple that brought in a pair of runs.
Chambersburg pitchers Hunt and Myers were touched for eight hits, including five for extra bases, but gave up only five earned runs. Taylor Krow smacked a two-out, two-run double in the top of the seventh that proved to be the difference in the game.
Williams said, "I never thought we'd see this kind of game. If you'd told me before the game we'd combine for 16 runs I'd have said you were crazy. The girls were telling me before the game their hands were freezing. I think it made it hard for the pitchers to grip the ball."
The four pitchers combined for 13 walks, a hit batter and five wild pitches.
Kauffman, who finished 3-for-4 with two doubles (her only out was a drive to left-center caught on the run), said, "I hate playing in the cold like this, but I think the team came together. I've been struggling with hitting lately, but today I felt really good. I just wish we could have come all the way back in that last inning."
Kauffman doubled in Chelsea Sommerville and Tara Harmon, who had both walked, to give Chambersburg (6-6, 4-6 MPC) a 2-0 lead in the first inning off Cumberland Valley ace Jen Hanshaw.
In the fourth, trailing 4-2, Kauffman and Hunt singled and Myers walked to load the bases. With two outs, No. 9 hitter Emily Secrist came through in the clutch with an RBI single to right. Etter then reached on an infield single that tipped off Hanshaw's glove and tied the game 4-4, but CV got out of the jam.
The Trojans' other run came in the sixth when Sam Bender hit a drive over the centerfield fence for her second homer of the season.
Bittinger said, "Today the top of the lineup struggled (only 1 hit for the top 4 batters), but the middle and bottom did well. We were down four, but we kept battling – that's one thing about this team is they never give up.
"But we are 6-6 now with eight games left and we've got to get on a roll."
Cumberland Valley 9 Chambersburg 7
Cumb. ValleyChambersburgabrhbabrhbKrow lf5122Etter cf4011Keefer cf2100Somrvill 2b2100Haupt ss3212Nolan c3000Erney 1b4110Harmon 3b2100Wingert c2011Kaufmn rf4232Kinsey cr0100Hunt p3221Noga 2b3012Brkhdr dp1000Holtzmn 3b3110Glunt ss0000Scott dp4100Myers p2010Hanshaw p0000Ovrcsh cr0000Brown rf3110Bender 1b4111Secrist lf4011Totals29987Totals29796
Cumb. Valley0040122—9Chambersburg2002012—7
E: CV 2, Chbg 4; DP: CV 1; LOB: CV 8, Chbg 9; 2B: Krow 2, Wingert, Kauffman 2; 3B: Haupt, Noga; HR: Bender (2); SB: Krow; SAC: Keefer, Brown, Sommerville.
Cumberland Valley
Hanshaw (W)665564Shaffer132000
Chambersburg
Hunt334245Myers (L,4-3)455331
HBP: by Hanshaw (Nolan); WP: Hanshaw, Shaffer, Hunt 2, Myers;
T: 2:11.
JV: Chambersburg 12, Cumberland Valley 1. Dori Loukopoulos threw a 3-hitter with 9 strikeouts. Tierra Kauffman was 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs for the Trojans (9-1), while Maggie Myers, Natalie Saylor, Katie Rosenberry and Jordyn Amsley each had 2 hits.