In the second annual Backyard Brawl battle between the Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis softball teams, the Lady Blue Devils scored four times in the bottom of the fourth inning, and held on for a 5-3 victory, at the George O. Martin Field, in Bellwood, on Wednesday night.
Tyrone’s Ariane Miller and Bellwood-Antis’ Emily Derr were locked in a pitchers’ dual matching goose eggs on the scoreboard for the first three innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, after Derr had set the Lady Eagles down in the top of the stanza, Tory Baldauf led off with a single, and Ashley Hamer reached on an error. Tamara Askey drilled a double to score Baldauf with the game’s initial tally, and Derr singled to put runners at second and third. Ariane Miller got a strikeout for the first out, but Fawn McCracken followed with a two-run single.
Tyrone got one run back in the top of the fifth, when Amanda Detwiler reached on an error and came around to score, to cut the B-A lead to 4-1.
In the sixth, Teanna Kobuck and Lindsay Christine hit back-to-back singles to begin the at-bat. Derr got a comebacker to the mound, and a strikeout to record two quick outs, but Detwiler came through in the clutch to drive home both Kobuck and Christine with a solid two-out base hit that sliced the Tyrone deficit to a single tally, 4-3.
The Lady Blue Devils added a big insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Askey led off by drawing a walk. Allison Derr hit into a fielder’s choice play that erased Askey, then with the help of an error, came around to score the final run of the contest.
The neighboring schools played two close games in 2008, with the first, a hitters contest, in which Bellwood-Antis outlasted the Lady Eagles in extra innings, 15-13. Game two was more a pitcher’s dual, with Miller limiting the Lady Blue Devils to five hits and one earned run, with six strikeouts and only one walk, and Derr also allowing five hits, and just two earned runs, with seven Ks and two walks.
Christine was the only player for either team with multiple hits, with two singles, while Detwiler and McCracken each had two RBI to lead their respective offenses.
Both teams are back in action today. Tyrone (0-11) will host Lewistown today in their third game in three days, while Bellwood-Antis (5-6) puts put the welcome mat for Mount Union with both games beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Bellwood-Antis 5 Tyrone 3
Tyrone – Am Miller, 2b, 4-0-0; Ar. Miller, p, 4-0-0; Kobuck, cf, 4-1-1; Christine, c, 4-1-2; Harden, 3b, 3-0-0; Gardner, lf, 3-0-0; DeSoto, dp, 3-0-0; Detwiler, 1b, 3-1-1; Garbinsky, ss, 3-0-0; Zimmerman, flex, rf, 0-0-0. TOTALS 31-3-5.
Bellwood-Antis – Baldauf, ss, 3-1-1; A. Hamer, 2b, 3-1-1; Askey, c, 3-1-1; E. Derr, p, 3-1-1; A. Derr, cf, 3-1-0; F. McCracken, lf, 3-0-1; McVicker, 3b, 1-0-0, K. McCracken, ph, 1-0-0; Bonsell, rf, 2-0-0; Donohue, rf, 0-0-0; C. Hamer, 1b, 2-0-0; Snyder, ph, 1-0-0. TOTALS 24-5-5.
Tyrone 000 012 0 3-5-4.
Bellwood-Antis 000 401 X 5-5-2.
2B: (BA) Askey.
Multiple Hits: (T) Christine 2.
RBI: (T) Detwiler 2, (BA) F. McCracken 2, Askey 1, A. Hamer 1.
SO: (T) Ar. Miller 6, (BA) E, Derr 7.
BB: (T) Ar. Miller 1, (BA) 2.
WP: E. Derr LP: Ar. Miller
