Amber Claar homered, tripled and doubled while driving in four runs despite her team only coming to bat in two innings. A game that looked lopsided on paper turned out to be even more so when actually played on the field as Claysburg-Kimmel rolled over young Bellwood-Antis 16-0. The game was stopped after the top of the third inning due to the 15-run mercy rule.
Pam Weyandt began the game with a sharp liner that went foul, and the game spiraled downward for the Lady Blue Devils shortly thereafter. Claysburg-Kimmel pitcher Renee Musselman struck out Weyandt and retired Bellwood-Antis in order.
Claar\’s first hit of the game, a triple, scored her sister Christina Claar and highlighted a bottom of the first which saw the Lady Bulldogs score eight times on six hits. Musselman capped off the offensive explosion with a two-out single to score two runs.
Down eight runs, the Lady Blue Devils came to bat in the top of the second inning with the near-impossible task of needing to score at least nine runs against Musselman to win the game.
The Lady Blue Devils had managed a total of only three runs in their previous two games, but Tamara Askey appeared to get Bellwood-Antis heading in the right direction with a double down the left-field line. However, when Askey tried to stretch her hit into a triple, she was thrown out at third.
“That pitcher is probably about as good as we\’re going to face all year,” Bellwood-Antis manager Alex Sitman said. “Their defense all has strong arms, and all of them know exactly what to do; so you know that\’s just something a young team like ours is going to have to go through.”
Amber Claar added a leadoff home run that got past right-fielder Leah Snyder and a double in the bottom of the second inning. The Lady Bulldogs put together six more hits, including four for extra bases, to put eight more runs on the board and put the game in jeopardy of ending if Bellwood-Antis continued to trail by more than 15 runs after they had completed three innings of at-bats.
Musselman made certain of just that by retiring the Lady Blue Devils in order and not allowing a ball to leave the infield.
Bellwood-Antis, coming off a 6-1 loss to Bishop Guilfoyle in which the team was competitive throughout the contest, played for less than an hour in the 16-0 loss.
“It\’s a big jump to leave what they just came from, and come in here against a Claysburg team like this,” Sitman said. “They were tentative a little bit, because there was no fence, and they were afraid of the ball getting behind them, and it did a couple times, but those are the learning pains and what helps you decide whether you want to be a ballplayer or not.”
The Lady Blue Devils return home to play Northern Bedford, Monday. The first pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.
Bellwood-Antis 0 Claysburg-Kimmel 16
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Weyandt, cf, 1-0-0; Baldauf, ss, 1-0-0; McCracken, 1b, 0-0-0; Putt, dp, 1-0-0; Pfahler, 2b-ss, 1-0-0; Askey, c, 1-0-1; Derr, p, 1-0-0; Riley, lf, 1-0-0; Brown, 3b, 1-0-0; Snyder, rf, 1-0-0. TOTALS 9-0-1.
CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL – Leslie, 2b, 2-2-1; R. Musselman, p, 3-1-2; Walter, cr, 0-1-0; C. Claar, ss, 3-2-2; A. Claar, 3b, 3-3-3; Paris, c, 2-0-1; Gerheim, cr, 0-2-0; K. Musselman 1b, 3-1-1; Strayer, lf, 2-2-1; Cox, dp, 1-1-1; Sell, ph, 0-1-0; Harshberger, rf, 1-0-0; Iachini, rf, 1-0-0; Burket, cf, 0-0-0. TOTALS 21-16-12.
Bellwood-Antis 000 0-1-3
Claysburg-Kimmel 88X 16-12-0
HR: A. Claar.
3B: A. Claar.
2B: A. Claar, C. Claar, Leslie, Askey.
RBI: A. Claar 4, R. Musselman 3, Leslie 2, C. Claar 2, Paris, K. Musselman.
SO: R. Musselman 3.
BB: Derr 3.
WP: R. Musselman LP: Derr
