Lady Dutch softball team edges Punxsutawney 2-1

The St. Marys Area Lady Dutch softball team edged the Punxsutawney Lady Chucks to bring home a 2-1 victory from a game played on the road in Punxsutawney on Thursday afternoon.

SMA’s Kendall Young and Punxsutawney’s Ciara Toven both went the distance for their respective squads, with each giving up three hits and striking out nine. Young also issued four walks while Toven issued two.

Batters for both teams went down in order in the opening inning, with Young striking out the side in the home half of the frame.

St. Marys got the first base runner of the contest in the top of the second as Lindsey Reiter drew a two-out walk.

The Lady Chucks responded with their lone run in the home half of the inning.

Toven led off with a double and Milaydi Hilliard entered the game as a courtesy runner. A single by Brooke Young moved Hilliard to third. Hilliard then went on to score on a sacrifice fly by Brooke Skarbek to give Punxsy a 1-0 lead.

The Lady Chucks were not in front for long as the Lady Dutch put both of their runs on the board in the top of the third.

Following a pair of strikeouts, Rosa DePrater, Olivia Eckels, and Kendall Young hit back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases. Both DePrater and Eckels were able to score as Kara

Hanslovan reached base on an error, putting St. Marys Area in front 2-1.

The score would remain that way for the rest of the contest.

Batters for both teams went down in order until the bottom of the fourth, when Toven reached base on a two-out single but was left stranded.

Danielle Rolley drew a leadoff walk for St. Marys in the top of the fifth, but the next three batters went down in order.

Batters for the Lady Dutch would continue to go down in order for the remainder of the game.

Punxsutawney left runners stranded in each of the final three innings but was unable to put any additional runs on the board.

After bringing home the 2-1 win, the Lady Dutch are set to conclude their regular season today when they host the Elk County Catholic Lady Crusaders in a 6 p.m. contest.

St. Marys Area 2

Rosa DePrater 3-11, Olivia Eckels 3-11, Kendall Young 3-01, Kara Hanslovan 3-0-0, Gianna Surra 3-0-0, Lindsey Reiter 2-0-0, Jianna Gerg 3-0-0, Lauren Mosier 3-0-0, Danielle Rolley 2-0-0. Totals 25-2-3.

Punxsutawney 1

Emily Dobbins 4-00, Lacy Poole 3-0-0, Avary Powell 2-0-0, Ciara Toven 2-0-2, Brooke Young 3-0-1, Brynn Hergert 1-0-0, Milaydi Hilliard 2-10, Brooke Skarbek 1-0-0, Karli Young 1-0-0, Laura Rittenhouse 0-0-0, Kaylee Guidice 2-0-0, Sydney Hoffman 1-0-0. Totals 22-1-3. Score by innings R St. Marys 002 000 0 2 Punxsy 010 000 0 1