TAMAQUA — On the second pitch of the game, North Schuylkill’s Tiffany Lapotsky launched a towering home run over the left-field fence.
Just like that, Tamaqua fell behind during Tuesday’s key Schuylkill League Division I game.
“I was a little nervous when Lapotsky put that one over in the first inning,’’ Tamaqua coach Jillian Barron said. “I didn’t know how the girls were going to react, and they reacted exactly how I wanted them to: They came back.’’
Tamaqua came back twice, using Cailyn Joseph’s three-run home run in the fourth
inning to rally past the Spartans 6-3.
The teams have seen a lot of each other and have a lot of history as they played for the sixth time in the past 12 months.
North Schuylkill (7-3, 5-2 D-I) owned the Blue Raiders last season, winning 3-of-4 meetings. That included a 3-0 perfect game by Christie Hutira in the Schuylkill League Division I tiebreaker and a 5-0 victory in the District 11 Class AA quarterfinals.
This season has belonged to the Blue Raiders, who swept the season series with Tuesday’s victory. That means Tamaqua (9-2, 7-1) remains a half-game behind Pottsville (8-3, 7-0) in the division standings and clinched the tiebreaker over the Spartans.
North Schuylkill, meanwhile, began a tough week with a tough loss. The Spartans visit Pottsville today, travel to Pine Grove on Thursday and play at PIAA Class A state qualifier Bloomsburg on Saturday.
“As long as I’m coaching, this might be the toughest stretch that we ever went through,’’ North Schuylkill coach Dominick Grasso said.
Trailing 1-0, Tamaqua used a single, error, passed ball, wild pitch and Joseph’s sacrifice fly to take a 2-1 lead after two innings.
“They get the job done when they needed to get it done,’’ Grasso said. “I have to respect them. They have a good team.’’
Back came the Spartans in the third. Lapotsky doubled, stole third and scored on Eliza Schally’s groundout. Later in the inning, Chase Stokes (2-for-4) connected on an RBI single to put her team back on top, 3-2.
Hutira got into trouble in the fourth inning by issuing back-to-back walks with one out.
Joseph made those free passes hurt by lining the next pitch over the right-field fence for her first home run of the season.
“I knew we needed to produce runs somehow, but you’ve got to relax when you’re up at the plate,’’ Joseph said. “If you try to hit one out, it’s not going to go anywhere.
“I knew it was pretty good, but I didn’t it was going to be out,’’ she added. “So I was running pretty hard from the start. I’m happy it went out.’’
With one swing, Tamaqua turned a one-run deficit into a 5-3 lead.
“It felt awesome, and I knew it helped the game a lot,’’ Joseph said. “It really picked us up.’’
Tamaqua’s Brianna Wittig, who went 2-for-2, scored an insurance run on a passed ball in the fifth inning.
The Blue Raiders managed just four hits but made the most of them. They got three runs on Joseph’s homer and the other runs on an error, sacrifice fly and passed ball.
“When we needed the hits, we got them,’’ Barron said. “Cailyn Joseph’s home run couldn’t have come at a better time.’’
Game Summary
NORTH SCHUYLKILL (3) — Lapotsky ss 3 2 2 1, Schally 2b 4 0 0 1, Gricoski 3b 4 1 1 0, Stokes 1b 4 0 2 1, Burd dp 3 0 0 0, Morgan rf 3 0 1 0, Amato lf 3 0 1 0, Hutira p 3 0 0 0, Damiter cf 3 0 1 0, Peleschak c 0 0 0 0. Totals 30 3 8 3.
TAMAQUA (6) — Kistler ss 2 0 0 0, Hoffman 2b 2 0 0 0, Dietrich 3b 3 0 0 0, Sassaman c 1 0 1 0, Zehner cr 0 2 0 0, Fritz 1b 2 2 0 0, Joseph cf 2 1 1 4, Pedersen p 2 0 0 0, Hartung rf 2 0 0 0, Wittig lf 2 1 2 0. Totals 18 6 4 4.
NS (7-3, 5-2) 102 000 0 — 3
Tam (9-2, 7-1) 020 310 x — 6
E — North Schuylkill 3, Tamaqua 1. DP — North Schuylkill 2. LOB — North Schuylkill 7, Tamaqua 0. 2B — Lapotsky. HR — Lapotsky, Joseph. SB — Lapotsky, Gricoski. CS — Wittig. S — Kistler. SF — Joseph.
North Sch. IP H R ER BB K
Hutira L,2-1 6 4 6 3 4 3
Tamaqua IP H R ER BB K
Pedrsn W,8-2 7 8 3 3 1 6
WP — Hutira 2. PB — Peleschak 2, Sassaman. T — 1:22.