HEGINS — There was no huge celebration. No shouts of joy. No jumping up and down.
When a pop-up off the bat of Abby Schoffstall landed safely in the glove of shortstop Wendy Header, Tri-Valley had a 3-2 win over Minersville on Wednesday in a key Schuylkill League Division II game.
In years past, any softball win over Minersville would have been reason to throw a big party.
These Dawgs are different. They expect a lot of themselves, and they expect to win.
Happy? Yes. Satisfied? No.
“We’re really excited, but we know that we have a lot more to do, and the season isn’t over yet,’’ Tri-Valley center fielder Maddie Horn said.
“We knew from the beginning that if we played like a team we could do some great things, but we still have a lot of work to do,’’ she added. “As long as we keep on playing as a team and we work together, good things will happen.’’
With its second one-run win of the season over Minersville, Tri-Valley (14-1, 8-1 D-II) stayed very much alive in the race for the division title and a place in the Schuylkill League playoffs.
Williams Valley (16-1, 9-1) routed Shenandoah Valley 23-0 on Wednesday and leads the Dawgs by a half-game. The teams meet Monday afternoon in Hegins.
Meanwhile, Minersville (9-6, 7-3) lost for the fourth time in its last five games. The Miners will now turn their attention to the District 11 Class A Tournament.
“We played them as hard as we could down to the end, Minersville coach Dave Homa said. “They had one more (big) hit than we did. They’re a very well-coached team. They’re a very good team, and that’s what you get in our league.
“Now we’re on to the playoffs,’’ he added. “The most important part of the season for us is coming up. We were right there. We just have to take the next step. We have to find that in the next three weeks, and we will. We’ll go back and practice hard and see where it takes us.’’
Scoreless into the third inning, Tri-Valley bunched three straight hits to take a 2-0 lead.
Wendy Header led off with a single, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Taylor Header’s RBI single. Header took second on the throw home and scored on Horn’s RBI double.
Things stayed that way until the fifth when Minersville capitalized on a big break to tie the game 2-2. Alli Polinsky and Maggie Wigoda led off with back-to-back singles. When Wigoda’s ball skipped past the outfielder, both runners scored on the three-base error.
“When you play these games against Minersville and Williams Valley, you can feel yourself aging standing at third base (in the coaching box),’’ Tri-Valley coach Marty Shade said.
The Dawgs, though, kept their poise and regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth.
Tri-Valley executed perfect fundamental softball: Get ’em on, get ’em over, get ’em in.
Wendy Header led off with a single, advanced on Taylor Header’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Horn’s single to left field. Horn finished 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs as the top three in the Tri-Valley lineup went a combined 6-for-8 with all three runs and all three RBIs.
“That’s the sign of a good team,’’ Shade said of the way his team responded.
Taryn Wilson, who pitched for the fourth time in five days (28 innings during that span), earned the win. She struck out seven, walked none and got stronger once Tri-Valley took a 3-2 lead.
“Wilson just shut the door the last two innings,’’ Shade said. “She really took charge.’’
Still, Minersville had plenty of chances along the way. Leadoff batter Adrienne Kroznuskie went 3-for-3 and stole three bases. She got into scoring position all three times, reached third base with one out in the first inning but got stranded there.
The Miners also got caught in two double plays.
In the fourth, catcher Cat Troutman threw out Rachel Sterner trying to steal second base on a strikeout-throw-’em-out double play.
In the sixth, Minersville popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt. Third baseman Kat Sherry snagged the ball in the air and fired to first base for a rally-snuffing twin killing.
“It was a big win, but I told the girls we still didn’t win anything yet,’’ Shade said. “We’ve got to keep going.’’
Game Summary
MINERSVILLE (2) — Kroznuskie p 3 0 3 0, Snyder rf 2 0 0 0, Bentz lf 3 0 0 0, Mealey 1b 2 0 1 0, Ebert pr 0 0 0 0, Sterner 3b 3 0 1 0, Schwalm dp 3 0 0 0, Polinsky c 3 1 1 0, Wigoda cf 3 1 1 0, Schoffstall 2b 3 0 0 0, Kriston ss 0 0 0 0. Totals 25 2 7 0.
TRI-VALLEY (3) — W. Header ss 3 2 2 0, T. Header lf 2 1 1 1, Horn cf 3 0 3 2, Wilson p 3 0 0 0, Troutman c 2 0 0 0, Underkoffler cr 0 0 0 0, Ebersole 2b 3 0 0 0, Sherry 3b 3 0 0 0, Boyer 1b 3 0 1 0, Geist dp 2 0 0 0, Deeter rf 0 0 0 0. Totals 24 3 7 3.
Min (9-6, 7-3) 000 020 0 — 2
TV (14-1, 8-1) 002 010 x — 3
E — Minersville 0, Tri-Valley 1. DP — Tri-Valley 2. LOB — Minersville 4, Tri-Valley 5. 2B — Horn. SB — Kroznuskie 3, Boyer. CS — Sterner. S — Snyder, T. Header, Ebersole.
Minersville IP H R ER BB K
Krznskie L,2-4 6 7 3 3 1 2
Tri-Valley IP H R ER BB K
Wilson W,14-1 7 7 2 1 0 7
HBP — by Wilson (Mealey). WP — Kroznuskie. T — 1:18.