Take away the top of the second inning from Wednesday’s game, and the Bradford softball team was looking at a possible victory.
Unfortunately for the Lady Owls, that’s not how it works.
The visiting Brookville Lady Raiders (7-3) scored all of their seven runs in that second frame, which held up for a 7-2 victory that dropped Bradford to 1-7 on the season.
“If we can get past that one big inning…” coach Misty Antonioli said. “We just keep making changes, keep setting new goals. I think we’ve got some new goals to set.”
After a relatively painless opening inning, things started to unravel quickly in the next frame. Brookville strung together base hit after base hit, hitting around in the batting order and taking a lot of the life out of the home crowd at Pitt-Bradford’s softball field.
Maggie Miller delivered the big blow for Brookville, blasting a two-run base hit that pushed the score to 6-0. Hannah Kirkwood, Carlie McManigle, Leah Kammdeiner and Josanna Hockinson were the other Lady Raiders to drive in runs in the inning.
Bradford finally got out of the inning thanks to a classic “pickle” play, as a Brookville baserunner got caught in a rundown between first and second base to end the inning.
To their credit, the Lady Owls didn’t hang their heads after surrendering so many runs in one inning. Starting pitcher Kaylee Brown pitched five scoreless frames the rest of the way, finishing with three strikeouts and just one walk.
Brown got a good deal of help from her teammates behind her, as the Lady Owls infield came up with several nice plays to keep the deficit from growing any larger.
“The infield did a very nice job,” Antonioli said. “Our first baseman Bryn Manion did a heck of a job tonight. Kaylee [Brown] is working the mound well. Sam [Gross] is doing a nice job as our catcher. They’ve been working hard.”
Third baseman Emily Warner also made several excellent snags and throws from the hot corner.
On the flip side, Brookville starter McManigle had her way through the first three innings, with Bradford offering little resistance at the plate.
But in the fourth inning, the Lady Owls were finally able to get things going. Manion and Hannah Woodel both registered singles to get on base. With the runners on second and third with one out, Warner drove in Manion with a sacrifice fly to short right field. After another pop-up, Makenzie Smith came up with a hard-hit single to score Woodel.
Unfortunately for Bradford, those three base hits would prove to be the extent of the offense for the remainder of the game for both teams.
Both sides were able to get a few runners on base in the final innings, but came out with nothing to show for it.
Avoiding the big inning will be crucial if Bradford hopes to come out on top when it faces Elk Catholic on the road on Friday.
