TAMAQUA — The wind blew in from center field. Temperatures hovered in the low 40s. A persistent, misty drizzle fell.
Not exactly a day for the long ball.
Yet none of that mattered when Tamaqua’s Carly Sassaman stepped to the plate in the fifth inning of Thursday’s Schuylkill League Division I game against Blue Mountain.
With the score tied and a runner on second base, the senior catcher blasted a two-run home run through the elements. The shot to left-center field put the Blue Raiders ahead to stay, and they held on for a 6-4 victory.
“I honestly didn’t expect it to go out, but rounding the bases, I saw it go over (the fence), so I was really happy,’’ Sassaman said. “In this weather, I didn’t think it was going. ... Odds were against it, but it got over.’’
The home run came as part of a five-run fifth inning in which Tamaqua turned a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 lead.
“I try to tell the girls all the time, ‘Let’s not wait.’ We’ve got to get our bats going in the beginning,’’ Tamaqua coach Jillian Barron said. “Definitely on a day like today, you don’t want to wait until the end because you don’t know what’s going to happen.’’
What happened was that Blue Mountain (2-2, 2-2 D-I) nearly came back and tied the game in the seventh inning. A bunt single and a check-swing single set
the table, and Catherine Washko’s RBI single cut the deficit to 6-4.
With just one out, the Eagles had runners on first and second. Karissa Elser, who laced an RBI double earlier in the game, stepped to the plate.
Winning pitcher Bailey Pedersen got Elser to hit a roller to second baseman Courtney Hoffman, who tagged the runner and threw to first base for a game-ending double play.
“I like the effort we had today. I like the attitude,’’ Blue Mountain coach Gerry Kresge said. “I finally saw some drive in them, the want to go win a ballgame. So I’m very pleased with that.
“We’re very inexperienced,’’ he added. “A perfect example of what won and lost this game was game experience. So if we learn from it, we’ll be better for it.’’
Tamaqua (4-0, 4-0) also had a teachable moment in this one. Blue Mountain jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 2 ½ innings and had chances to pull an upset.
“It’s a learning experience for them that not every game is going to be as easy as the first three games,’’ Barron said.
The Blue Raiders won their first three games by a combined 29-2.
Hoffman, a freshman who handled several tough chances in the field, used her speed to ignite Tamaqua’s decisive rally.
Hitting a routine grounder to shortstop, Hoffman beat the throw to give her team a leadoff baserunner and turn the lineup over.
Leadoff batter Lynn Kistler followed with a bunt single, and Tamaqua’s speed produced an error that put runners at second and third with nobody out.
Shayna Dietrich cashed in with a two-run single to center that tied the game at 3. One out later, Sassaman connected for her two-run blast that put her team on top.
Cailyn Joseph kept the momentum going by taking a four-pitch walk and stealing second base. One out later, Pedersen hit an RBI single to right-center as Joseph used a clever leap to avoid the catcher and the ball and step on home plate.
“I ask them every day to give me 110 percent,’’ Barron said. “We have a team that can do a lot of damage this year, and that takes playing 100 percent from start to finish.
“Even though we may get (behind), we have the bats and the attitude to come back.’’
Game Summary
BLUE MOUNTAIN (4) — Labe cf 3 1 1 0, E. Gerace p 3 0 0 0, Skoff c 4 1 3 0, Washko dp 4 0 1 1, Bowers pr 0 0 0 0, Elser lf 4 0 1 1, Kowalski 3b 3 1 1 0, LaScala 1b 3 0 0 0, Martin 2b 3 1 1 1, Harding rf 3 0 1 0, Renninger ss 0 0 0 0. Totals 30 4 9 3.
TAMAQUA (6) — Kistler ss 4 1 2 0, Dietrich 3b 4 2 2 2, Fritz 1b 3 0 1 1, Sassaman c 3 1 2 2, Joseph cf 3 1 0 0, Wittig lf 2 0 0 0, Miller ph 1 0 0 0, Pedersen p 3 0 1 1, Davis cr 0 0 0 0, Hartung rf 3 0 0 0, Hoffman 2b 3 1 1 0. Totals 29 6 9 6.
BM (2-2, 2-2) 021 000 1 — 4
Tam (4-0, 4-0) 001 050 x — 6
E — Blue Mountain 3, Tamaqua 2. DP — Tamaqua 1. LOB — Blue Mountain 7, Tamaqua 5. 2B — Elser, Dietrich. HR — Sassaman. SB — Labe, Skoff, Washko, Kowalski, Harding, Joseph.
Blue Mtn. IP H R ER BB K
E.Gerace L,1-1 6 9 6 6 1 7
Home IP H R ER BB K
Pedrsn W,4-0 7 9 4 3 2 4
WP — E. Gerace. T — 1:25.