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By STEVE SEMBRAT [email protected]
Friday, June 06, 2003 Page: 1B
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PIAA quarterfinals BLOOMSBURG – A terrifying notion flashed through the
head of Nanticoke catcher Holly Walters on Thursday as a shot off the bat of
Mifflinburg’s Tiff Corliss sailed over the head of Trojan center fielder
Lindsey Ludorf.
“I thought, `It’s over’,” Walters said. “Then I saw Lindsey get the ball
and I knew we had a chance.”
Then Ludorf hit shortstop Kristen Castano with a perfect cutoff throw. Then
Castano fired a strike to Walters at the plate. Then Walters tagged out Amanda
Heimbach for the first out in the bottom of the 16th inning.
“I put my butt down,” Walters said with a laugh. “She didn’t get past
me.”
Then Nanticoke pitcher Jess Brenner got the final two outs with a runner at
third base to keep the PIAA Class 2A softball quarterfinal game going. Then
Brenner worked out of a jam in the 17th. Then after a scoreless 18th inning,
the game was suspended by darkness.
What? No winner after all that drama?
Welcome to the season that will not end.
At least not before today, as Nanticoke and Mifflinburg complete the
playoff contest at 4 p.m. at Bloomsburg High School – the site of the
four-hour marathon on Thursday. The contest resumes with Nanticoke coming to
bat in the top of the 19th inning with the score tied 2-2.
Ironically, it is being played at the same site as a 21-inning contest last
year between Hazleton Area and Jersey Shore in a district semifinal contest.
Hazleton won that epic, 1-0.
“I know you have to work hard to keep going in the playoffs,” Nanticoke
coach Gary Williams said, “but this is getting ridiculous.”
The Trojans won three consecutive extra-inning games to capture the
District 2 title and reach the state quarterfinals, and this is the fourth
game in a row that has gone beyond the regulation seven innings. In addition
to the longest of the four, it is arguably the most dramatic, as Nanticoke
avoided elimination in remarkable fashion.
The Trojans took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third on a fielder’s choice
by Kaylee Ziolkowski and an RBI single by Brenner. The Wildcats tied the score
in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out, two-run single by Heimbach.
It looked as if the deadlock would finally end in the 16th inning after
Heimbach led off with a single. Corliss followed with a shot to deep center.
The speedy Heimbach was between second and third when Ludorf got to the ball,
and the end of the season seemed moments away.
“We could have lost the game right there,” Ludorf said. “I kept my focus
and as soon as I got the ball I knew where I had to throw it.”
She fired the ball to Castano, who took the cutoff throw near second base.
“When I saw it go over her head, I thought, `Oh boy’,” Castano said. “I
ran out for the cutoff and Lindsey gave me a perfect throw. I turned and fired
to home and we got her.”
Nanticoke wasn’t out of trouble, though, as Corliss went to third on the
throw to home plate. Brenner, though, got one of her 10 strikeouts, then a fly
to Ludorf in center to get out of the inning. Brenner pitched all 18 innings,
as did Jess Vonada for Mifflinburg.
“We battled our way out of a couple of tight jams,” Williams said.
“We’ve been doing that all year long. These kids are resilient. They don’t
want to lose. They want to keep the season going.”
Mifflinburg again got a runner to third with one out in the 17th, and again
Brenner worked out of trouble.
“We have a lot confidence in Jess,” Castano said. “We have a lot of
confidence in ourselves. We’re a team that never gives up and our goal is to
win a state championship and we’ll do whatever it takes to get there.”
Nanticoke vs. Mifflinburg
completion of suspended game
4 p.m. today, Bloomsburg HS