COAL TOWNSHIP - In any sport, the little things often are the difference between winning and losing. And when teams are fighting for playoff spots or in postseason play, the little things become magnified.
Ask Shamokin Area softball coach Christi Cryder, whose Indians dropped a 4-3, eight-inning heartbreaker to Hughesville Saturday in large part because of those little things. The loss was a heartbreaker because it dropped Shamokin to 7-9 overall, meaning the Indians need to win three of their final four games to qualify for the district playoffs, including games with perennial powers Milton and Jersey Shore.
On the other side Hughesville, which needs to win all of its remaining games to qualify, improved to 7-10 with a big road win.
Two key plays hurt the Indians, one costing them a run of their own and the other making it easier for the Spartans to score what proved to be the winning run in the eighth inning.
In the third inning, Shamokin trailed 1-0 but had Helena Supsic on third base with two outs after she singled, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Olivia Bonshock whacked a pitch hard and fair down the third-base line but the ball hit Supsic, who was inside the base path. She was called out to retire the side.
In the eighth, after Hughesville's Brianna Stroup led off with a double, Keirsten Schriner hit a fly to right field which Caitlin Pancher dropped for an error, putting runners at first and third with no outs instead of a runner at third with one out. Pitcher Steph Pancher struck out the next batter but Kaitlyn LaForme bounced the next ball back to the box. It bounced off Pancher's glove to second base, and LaForme was thrown out, but Stroup had enough time to score what proved to be the winning run.
"Little things keep coming up to bite us," said Cryder. "A runner at third being hit by the ball, and then the error to start the eighth. They're little things but they add up."
The other difference in the game was that Hughesville pitcher Megan Miller was more consistent than Pancher. Both worked all eight innings and gave up five hits, but Miller struck out seven batters and walked only one. Pancher struck out three but struggled with her control, walking eight, and two of those runners eventually scored.
Miller had Shamokin hitters off balance from the start but the Indians finally caught her with a three-run fifth inning to take a 3-1 lead. Bri Bonshock led the inning with a single, and although she was forced out at second, courtesy runner Tabitha Demsko and Jen Hornberger, who walked, eventually scored on a two-run single by Olivia Bonshock, and Celine Templar singled in Supsic, who also singled, for an insurance run.
But Hughesville got those two runs back in the sixth, when Pancher walked three batters, the last with the bases loaded, and gave up a tying single to Miller.
"I have to give credit to Hughesville," Cryder said. "They came down here and played really well, and they're battling to get in, too. Miller pitched a very good game.
"We just can't seem to get a big hit. The league (Heartland Conference Division II) is really balanced this year and it seems all of the games are like this. All of our losses are like 3-1, or 1-0. But we can't seem to find ways to win them."
Game Summary
HUGHESVILLE (AB-R-H-BI) - Miller 3-0-2-1, Kostenbauder 3-1-0-0, C. Zook 4-0-0-0, Wilt 4-0-1-1, Stroup 4-1-2-0, Schriner 3-1-0-0, Snyder 2-1-0-0, Laforme 2-0-0-1, A. Zook 3-0-0-1. Totals 28-4-5-4.
SHAMOKIN (AB-R-H-BI) - Hornberger 3-1-0-0, Supsic 4-1-2-0, O. Bonshock 4-0-1-2, Templar 4-0-1-1, Chapman 0-0-0-0, Wolfe 4-0-0-0, S. Pancher 3-0-0-0, B. Bonshock 2-0-1-0, Forbes 3-0-0-0, C. Pancher 0-0-0-0, Demsko 0-1-0-0, K. Augustitus 2-0-0-0, J. Augustitus 1-0-0-0. Totals 30-3-5-3.
Hughesville 100 002 01 - 4 5 2
Shamokin 000 030 00 - 3 5 2
Extra-base hits: 2B - Stroup
IP H R ER BB K
Hughesville
Miller (W) 8 5 3 3 1 7
Shamokin
S. Pancher (L) 8 5 4 4 8 3