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Pence tosses 3-hit shutout as East Palestine advances
Pence tosses 3-hit shutout as East Palestine advances
By Tom Williams
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Springfield’s Ashley Davis gets East Palestine’s Emily Stewart (10) out on a steal attempt of second base during their Division III tournament softball game Monday in East Palestine. Stewart had two hits for the Bulldogs, who shut out the Tigers, 3-0, and advanced to a sectional final today against Cardinal Mooney.
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East Palestine freshman ace Karly Pence delivers a pitch and a three-hit shutout against the Springfield Tigers on Monday.
EAST PALESTINE
When league rivals meet for the third time in a week, hitters often have the advantage against pitchers they’ve seen.
East Palestine freshman pitcher Karly Pence was an exception on Monday, taming the Springfield High softball team, 3-0, on a three-hitter in a Division III tournament game.
“She pitched a lot better for us today,” said East Palestine coach Dan McKinstry who said Pence’s least impressive outing came in last week’s 5-4 loss to the Tigers.
“We were ahead 4-3 with two outs and we dropped a foul pop-up,” McKinstry said. “Then there was a wild pitch and the next [batter] got a hit to beat us.”
Monday, Pence pitched out of a two jams and was backed up with solid fielding. She also hit a two-run double in the first inning to score Carly Blair and Emily Stewart to give herself a cushion.
Stewart, who had two of the Bulldogs’ six hits, said she and her teammates began the game with confidence despite last week’s split.
“We played them well both times, but we had a couple of mistakes that hurt us,” Stewart said. “We kept our mistakes to a minimum tonight.”
The Tigers (11-15) opened the game with line drives by Nicole Siciliano and Samantha Frye that were snagged by Stewart in center field. Ashley Davis lined out to second baseman Logan Gatchel to end the inning.
“I knew I had to buckle down because I was hanging pitches,” said Pence, who added that her team’s season “has been better than expected. We’re a young team — two seniors and no juniors.”
In the fourth inning, Frye and Davis singled to lead off the inning. Pence struck out the next two batters then first baseman Emily Noel picked up a dropped throw and fired to catcher to Harley Huston who tagged Frye.
In the sixth inning, Siciliano walked, took second on a groundout and moved to third on a passed ball. Pence ended the threat by striking out Davis and Kim Taylor.
“She’s learned a whole lot more pitches and she’s more consistent,” said Huston of Pence’s development this season.
Pence struck out nine batters and walked one.
“She was ahead in the count on most batters,” McKinstry said. “She’s a competitor. She’s not a strikeout pitcher but in tough situations, she’s got a pretty good repertoire of pitches.
“I’m really happy for my two seniors — Stewart and Huston,” McKinstry said. “We didn’t win a tournament game last year or the year before, so giving them the opportunity to play another one, that’s big.”
Today, the Bulldogs (17-4) will play Mooney in a sectional final at the Fields of Dreams in Boardman.
“Mooney is very good, they’ve got two really good pitchers,” said McKinstry who anticipates the challenge of facing another district seed. “We played South Range close twice so we’ll go play and take our chances.”