Ligonier Valley softball holds on to reach District 6 semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, May 21, 2018 | 8:57 PM

An early, four-run lead helped Jane Garver to relax on the mound and take command in Ligonier Valley's District 6-3A first-round softball playoff victory Monday at home.

The sophomore right-hander struck out 13 and the fourth-seeded Rams held off a Penn Cambria comeback attempt for a 4-3 victory that moved them into the semifinals Thursday at top-seeded Philipsburg-Osceola.

“Getting out to a lead makes it a little easier on everybody,” Ligonier Valley coach Mark Zimmerman said.

Garver, who retired the first nine Penn Cambria batters and finished with a six-hitter, pitched out of trouble in each of the final four innings.

“I just knew I had to bear down and get the job done,” she said. “We played well as a team today.”

Ligonier Valley (16-4) scored a run in the first against Casey Reese on an RBI double by Casey Stormer, scoring Lexie Petrof, who led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Sara Klinchock.

The Rams made it 3-0 in the third, with the help of Stormer's sacrifice fly and three Penn Cambria errors, before adding a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Taylor Bojtos.

Abby Turcheck led off the inning with a single and advanced on a single by Kaylee Colt.

Ligonier Valley failed to produce a hit during its two-run third.

No. 5 Penn Cambria (14-4) scored an unearned run in the fifth and added two runs in the sixth on RBI singles by Lora Davis and Elizabeth Kleman.

Garver worked out of trouble in the seventh, brushing off a leadoff single by Katrina Britton to strike out the next two batters and get the final out on a grounder to shortstop.

“I figured going in that we'd need to score five to seven runs,” Penn Cambria coach Jake Casale said. “I told the girls if we couldn't do that, we'd probably come up short. And we did.”

The four-run deficit was nothing new to Penn Cambria, which has played from behind in a majority of its games this season.

“It's been a pattern,” Casale said. “We're just not the type of team to score 10 runs in the first inning. We fall behind early and then we manage to come back most of the time. (Garver) kept us in check and we weren't able to come all the way back today.”

Ligonier Valley moves on to face Philipsburg-Osceola (18-1), which survived a scare in a first-round game Monday, beating No. 8 Tyrone, 7-6, on a last-inning rally.

“When you're into the District 6 playoffs,” Zimmerman said, “you want to move on. You know that sooner or later if you keep on winning, you're going to have to play the top team.”

A victory Thursday might push Ligonier Valley into that conversation with a trip to the championship game May 30 at St. Francis (Pa.).

Dave Mackall is a freelance writer.

Tags: Ligonier Valley