BLOOMSBURG - When Halifax scored a run in the top of the first inning during Thursday's PIAA Class A quarterfinal, Minersville didn't panic.
"I wasn't expecting that, to be honest,'' Miners shortstop Reighly Melochick said. "But I just knew if I got it started, the rest of the team will follow (hitting) after me.''
Turns out Melochick knows what she's talking about.
Minersville answered by batting around in the bottom of the first inning and clubbed its way to a 12-2, five-inning win over the Wildcats at Bloomsburg University's Jan Hutchinson Field.
With the victory, the District 11 champion Miners (22-3) advance to Monday's semifinals. They'll play the winner of the game between District 1 champion Bristol and District 4 champ South Williamsport at a site and time to be announced.
The Bristol-South Williamsport contest was postponed Thursday due to wet fields. It will be played at 4 p.m. today at Allentown's Patriots Park.
In two state playoff victories, the Miners have scored 25 runs on 24 hits with five doubles and two triples.
"We're pounding the ball,'' Minersville coach Dave Homa said. "There's no ifs, ands or buts, we're scoring runs at an unbelievable pace, knock on wood.
"We're going up against a tremendous team on Monday, but right now we're hitting situationally,'' he added. "We can run the bases. We didn't use our short game, but it's there if we need it. One through nine, we're pounding the ball. We feel we have a chance at a big inning with two outs and no one on. We can get some runs.''
Ironically, District 3 champion Halifax (15-9) scored its first-inning run just that way. With two outs and nobody on, Morgan Cox laced a single to left-center and scored when Chelsea Konyar bashed a one-hop double off the left-field fence.
Minersville, though, wasted no time starting its rally in the bottom of the first. Melochick and Adrienne Kroznuskie both singled on the first pitches they saw, putting the Miners in business.
"Two singles on two pitches to start the game,'' Melochick said. "You couldn't ask for better than that.''
Lindsey Snyder reached on the first of five Halifax errors to load the bases. On an 0-2 pitch to Emily Mealey, Konyar uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Melochick to score the tying run and moving Krozunskie and Snyder into scoring position.
Mealey worked the count to 2-2, then scorched a two-run double to the gap in right-center to put Minersville ahead to stay at 3-1. No. 8 batter Maura Bentz pounded a two-run triple over the right fielder's head to cap the five-run rally.
Mealey's sacrifice fly - caught at the left-field fence - extended the Miners' lead to 6-1 in the second inning.
Homa made some lineup changes that paid immediate dividends. He flip-flopped Snyder and Mealey, with Mealey driving in three runs out of the cleanup spot.
"We switched the lineup up. I wasn't feeling really comfortable batting third, so he moved me to fourth,'' Mealey said. "That's where I feel comfortable batting. I knew I had to make a play and I did (in the first inning at-bat). ... Oh, I'm happy batting cleanup. Yeah, definitely.''
The other change was starting Bentz at designated player and moving Alyse Ryan, the usual DP, to left field. Bentz had three straight playoff pinch-hits against Marian, Williams Valley and Bloomsburg to earn the start. She responded by going 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, a run scored and four RBIs.
Minersville scored in every inning to steadily build its lead.
The Miners added four runs in the third inning to push their advantage to 10-1. Bentz rapped an RBI double; two runs scored when Melochick's deep fly ball was dropped; and Kroznuskie laced a two-run single.
In the fourth, Bentz drove in a run on a groundout, and in the fifth, Kroznuskie stole two bases and scored on an error to end the game via the 10-run rule.
"We were in the zone all day,'' Mealey said.
Kroznuskie, a freshman center fielder, went 3-for-4 with three stolen bases, three runs scored and two RBIs. In two state playoff games, she's gone 6-for-9 (.667) with six runs scored and three RBIs.
Kroznuskie now has 53 hits, a single-season school record. She passed Sarah Walasavage, who had 52 in 2013.
"It goes back to (coach) Marty (Brophy) and what we do at practice,'' Homa said about the team's hitting. "Last year, we went into a slump at the wrong time (districts). Now, it's just the opposite. We've been building, building, building all the way through, and now it's a hitter's time of year. It's warm.
"Everybody forgets you come out with three seasons,'' he added. "You've got that Gym Season, which is horrible. You've got 40 Degrees Below Zero, which is horrible. And this is Hitting Weather. These kids, we changed our drills right up to now. Whatever we're doing, we're going to keep doing.''