COAL TOWNSHIP - Turning points are rarely obvious at the time, but Shamokin may look back on Thursday's 6-3 win over Bloomsburg as the day that saved its season.
The Indians came into the game with a 1-4 record, with upcoming games against powers Jersey Shore and Milton. In short, the Indians needed this one.
"We needed this one bad, and hopefully this is the one we look back on," Shamokin head coach Christi Cryder said.
The Indians started out by getting in some trouble when a mishandled throw at first after a line drive back at pitcher Steph Pancher could have ended the inning with a double play.
Instead, Michelle Smith stayed on first, then stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on another error in the infield.
Shamokin didn't answer until the bottom of the second, when Bri Bonshock singled to left and advanced to second on a bobble in the field.
The Indians then ran off three
straight singles and scored two runs, but a shoestring catch by Bloomsburg centerfielder Mallory Fry with the bases loaded ended what could have been a much bigger inning for Shamokin.
The 12 hits the Indians had Thursday were more than their last two games combined, which both happened to be losses.
"Finally," Cryder said about her team's breakout offensive performance. "They hit the ball well after they adjusted. They struggled at first with pitcher because she has a different windup, but they adjusted."
Shamokin scored another run in the fifth inning to take a 3-1 lead, but the with the bases loaded again the Indians made a costly baserunning error when Helena Supsic, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI, strayed off third when the pitcher had the ball on the rubber for the third out.
Bloomsburg then struck twice in the sixth to tie the game, 3-3.
Bloomsburg's Lea Rehm started the inning with a single to left then went first-to-third on a single and scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of losing pitcher Alyssa Ziller.
Courtney Adamchick then singled in Ziller's courtesy runner, Hailey Bennett, to tie the game.
Shamokin's revamped lineup broke the tie in the sixth with its last three runs.
Natalie Wolfe singled, then moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt from Pancher. Wolfe then scored on a double by Courtney McGrath that hit the bottom of the fence in left.
The Panthers then changed pitchers in the middle of Jenny Hornberger's at-bat, but she was ultimately walked, and both McGrath and Hornberger scored after Bonshock looped a ball into shallow right field.
"We've been shuffling the lineup the last two games and it helped a lot," Cryder said. "Putting Natalie at the top of the order and moving some people down seemed like a better setup today."
From there, Pancher took care of business, retiring the Panthers' side in the top of the seventh with just four pitches.
Game Summary
BLOOMSBURG (AB-R-H-BI) - Karpinski 4-0-1-0, Smith 3-1-1-0, Rehm 2-1-1-0, Ehmer 3-0-1-0, Ziller 2-1-0-1, Kurzlac 3-0-0-0, Adamchick 3-0-1-0, Michael 3-0-0-0, Fry 3-0-0-0. Totals 27-3-5-1.
SHAMOKIN (AB-R-H-BI) - Wolfe 4-1-2-0, Pancher 3-0-1-0, O. Bonshock 3-0-0-0, McGrath 4-1-2-1, Hornberger 3-2-0-0, B. Bonshock 4-1-3-1, Supsic 4-1-2-1, Augustitus 2-0-1-1, Templar 2-0-0-0, Duganitz 0-0-0-0. Totals 29-6-12-4.
Bloomsburg 100 002 0 - 2 5 3
Shamokin 020 013 x - 6 12 2
Extra-base hits: 2B - McGrath.
IP H R ER BB K
Bloomsburg
Ziller (L) 5.2 11 5 4 3 2
Adamchick .1 1 1 0 1 1
Shamokin
Pancher (W) 7 5 3 2 1 5