ST. MARYS — Some days you have it and some days you don’t.
On Wednesday, the Coudersport softball team earned a spot in the District 9 Class A title game with a 4-2 victory over Clarion.
On Thursday, the Lady Falcons (14-5) looked like a completely different team, as they fell to DuBois Central Catholic (21-1), 9-0, at St. Marys High School.
The Lady Cardinals earned their second consecutive district title thanks to a dominant outing from starting pitcher Riley Assalone, who tossed a four-hit shutout that included 12 strikeouts and no walks.
Coudersport coach Dan Counts saw his team’s poor performance at the plate as having more to do with nerves than being overwhelmed by the DCC righty.
“We were nerved up,” Counts said. “It was the first time a lot of these girls have been in this situation. But she [Assalone] wasn’t better than anything we’d seen all year. We just weren’t mentally prepared to play.”
DuBois CC showed in the first inning why it has only lost once all year. Number two hitter Jordy Frank opened the scoring with a solo home run to straight away center field. Minutes later, Shayleigh Gulvas one-upped her teammate with a two run-shot down the left field line to give the Cardinals an early 3-0 lead.
One day after tossing six innings against Clarion, Coudy’s Madison Smith got the call once again yesterday. But after the first inning Counts acknowledged his junior righthander didn’t have the same kind of juice she did the day before.
“I talked to Maddie and she thought she was up to it and she felt good,” Counts said. “But in a short period of time it was obvious that she didn’t have it. But she got through that first inning and our goal was to get her through an inning or two before we had to use Shaelyn [Black].”
Counts was clearly uncomfortable with having to use Black so early in the game.
“I didn’t want to use her at all,” he said. “But there are pitchers that sometimes you just get a good read off of them. And it’s evident that their team just got a good read off of Maddie.”
Coudersport had its chances at the dish early in the game, getting runners to first and second in each of the first two innings. Unfortunately, those missed opportunities proved to be as close to scoring as the Lady Falcons would come all day.
“We knew we had to hit the ball in order to be successful and we didn’t,” Counts said. “If we played them again tomorrow, we could get hits. The games that we have lost this year, we’ve shown up and we didn’t hit. If we put the ball in play consistently, we roll.”
The Lady Cardinals would add three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, receiving contributions from up and down the lineup.
Frank and Gulvas would finish with four RBIs and three RBIs, respectively, while Assalone and Alyssa Bitner both notched RBI singles. Macey Hanes (triple) and Ashley Wruble (double) both had an extra-base hit and two runs scored.
EmmaRae Easton went 2-for-3 at the plate for Coudersport. Joplin Osgood and Stephanie Fry had the Lady Falcons’ other two base hits, both of them singles.
Fortunately, Coudersport’s season won’t end with this loss, as the Lady Falcons had already clinched a spot in the PIAA state tournament.
“We just said, ‘Learn from this,’ because the whole entire thing is a learning process,” Counts said.
As the number two seed from District 9, Coudersport will face the number two seed from District 6 on Monday, June 5 at a place and time to be determined.
“We’re going to be playing another team that just lost their playoff [game] as well,” Counts said. “So who’s going to come out of the gates? Who’s going to be more hungry to prove that the last one was a fluke?”
Both Counts and his team are eager to put this disappointment behind them and show what kind of team they really are.
“I told them, and they agree, whoever’s the hungriest, whoever has the most intensity and motivation will probably be successful,” he said. “I have no doubt these girls will rise up.”
