ORWIGSBURG — Cailyn Joseph never believed Tamaqua was an underdog heading into Monday’s Schuylkill League softball semifinal against Tri-Valley.
She backed her belief when it mattered most.
Joseph hit a two-run single to center field in the top of the 11th to plate the winning run as the Raiders beat the Dawgs 6-5 at Patton Field to advance to Wednesday’s Schuylkill League championship.
Tamaqua plays Pottsville, which beat Marian 5-1 in the other semifinal, at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Patton Field.
The international tiebreaker took effect after nine
innings, putting the batter who recorded the final out in the previous inning on second base to start the next inning.
With the game tied at 4 after 10 innings, Tamaqua’s Shayna Dietrich started at second in the 11th before Taylor Fritz led off with a single. Joseph then roped a 1-1 pitch to center, giving the Raiders a 6-4 lead.
“It was a crazy game,” Joseph said. “We were all trying to keep cool and I just went up there and relaxed. I knew I had to get them (the runs) in. And I knew one wasn’t enough. I knew we needed to get one more run in. So I did.”
Tri-Valley got one run back from courtesy runner Jess Underkoffler, who started the bottom of the 11th on second and scored on Kat Sherry’s RBI single.
Tamaqua catcher Carly Sassaman caught Sherry stealing at second before a groundout sealed the Raiders’ win.
“I knew we weren’t predicted to do anything so it felt great proving everyone wrong,” Joseph said. “I knew we could do it. I never had a doubt in my mind. I came in here believing we could do it.”
The contest started as a pitchers’ duel, as Tri-Valley’s Taryn Wilson and Tamaqua’s Bailey Pedersen kept the game scoreless through five innings.
Wilson cruised through the first three innings and finished with 10 strikeouts. Pedersen often pitched in on the Dawgs’ hands, keeping their hits in the infield. She also pitched her way out of some early fielding errors behind her.
Both pitchers only allowed two earned runs.
“Bailey Pedersen did a fantastic job. She’s done a fantastic job all year,” Tamaqua coach Jillian Barron said. “She knows what she has to do and she gets it done. She does great under pressure. All credit to her. The bats were there, but she really held Tri-Valley when we needed her to.”
Tri-Valley (19-2) had runners in scoring position five times through the first five innings, but never got a run across. The Dawgs stranded eight runners for the game.
“We just didn’t play good today at all,” Tri-Valley coach Marty Shade said. “It wasn’t a typical Tri-Valley softball game. But you gotta give Tamaqua credit. (Pedersen) pitched a good game and kept us guessing and, for the most part, I thought they out-played us.”
Tamaqua (17-5) struck first in the sixth thanks to some heads-up base running. Lynn Kistler led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second base on a wild throw to first. Courtney Hoffman hit an infield grounder in the next at-bat, but when she ran into Tri-Valley second baseman Jordyn Ebersole, who was covering first, Kistler broke for home and scored without a throw.
The Dawgs answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Maddie Horn reached on an error to lead off the inning before back-to-back singles by Wilson and Cat Troutman. Sherry hit a two-run single to plate Horn and Wilson and courtesy runner Underkoffler scored on a Brittany Geist single.
Tri-Valley could’ve added more runs, but Sherry got hung up between third and home on Geist’s hit and was tagged out to end the inning.
It came back to haunt the Dawgs.
Joseph, Sassaman and Pedersen led off the top of the seventh with consecutive singles. Pedersen’s shot to right-center scored two runs to tie the game.
Bailey Hartung started the Tamaqua 10th on second base and scored to make it 4-3, but Wilson drove in Wendy Header in the bottom of the inning to level the score.
In the 11th, Joseph’s big hit was the difference.
“I really think this brought a whole lot of confidence,” Barron said, noting Tri-Valley’s 2-0 win over Tamaqua on April 25.
“Today, we came out and we weren’t letting them get the best of us,” Barron added. “Eleven innings on a really hot day like this, that’s heart, that’s dedication, that’s determination to want to be in that championship game.”
Game Summary
Schuylkill League Semifinal
At Patton Field, Orwigsburg
TAMAQUA (6) — Kistler ss 5 1 2 0, Hoffman 2b 4 0 2 0, Dietrich 3b 3 1 0 0, Fritz 1b 4 1 1 0, Joseph cf 5 1 2 2, Sassaman c 5 0 2 0, Zehner cr 0 0 0 0, Matsago cr 0 1 0 0, Pedersen p 4 0 1 2, Stauffenberg cr 0 0 0 0, Hartung rf 4 1 0 0, Wittig lf 4 0 0 0. Totals 38 6 10 4.
TRI-VALLEY (5) — W. Header ss 5 1 0 0, T. Header lf 4 0 0 0, Horn cf 3 1 0 0, Wilson p 5 0 2 1, Roth cr 0 1 0 0, Troutman c 5 0 1 0, Underkoffler cr 0 2 0 0, Ebersole 2b 5 0 1 0, Sherry 3b 4 0 2 3, Boyer 1b 5 0 2 0, Deeter rf 0 0 0 0, Geist dp 3 0 1 1. Totals 39 5 9 5.
Tam (17-5) 000 001 200 12 — 6
TV (19-2) 000 003 000 11 — 5
E — Tamaqua 4, Tri-Valley 3. LOB — Tamaqua 7, Tri-Valley 8. SB — Ebersole. CS — Sherry. S — Dietrich 2, Pedersen, Geist. SF — Fritz.
Tamaqua IP H R ER BB K
Pdrsn W,16-4 11 9 5 2 0 5
Tri-Valley IP H R ER BB K
Wilson L,19-2 11 10 6 2 0 10
PB — Troutman. T — 2:08.