Westmont Hilltop nudges past Central Cambria in 6-3A softball tourney
· Yahoo Sports
Abby Rozich was the center of the action. At first, that was not a good thing.
The sophomore right-handed pitcher gave up a pair of two-run home runs in the first inning. But she settled down inside the circle, and went 2-for-3 as she led Westmont Hilltop to a 6-4 victory against Central Cambria in a District 6 Class 3A softball quarterfinal Monday at Westmont Hilltop Junior/Senior High School.
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“(I just needed) to stay confident, forget about the first inning, and just worry about the first pitch,” Rozich said.
The Hilltoppers (17-3) will visit second-seeded Philipsburg-Osceola in a semifinal Thursday.
“If we stay confident at the plate and do well on the field, I think we have a very good chance of making (the finals), Rozich said.
“They’re a great team. We’ve said that every time we’ve played them. We had too many miscues at the wrong moments,” Central Cambria coach Stephen Ruddek said.
Central Cambria got to Rozich early and assumed a 4-0 lead. Avery Biter hit a two-run homer, and Rowyn Ruddek bounced a one-out two-run homer off the top of the left-field fence and over.
“I just wanted to stay confident, play as I know how to and pitch as I know how to,” Rozich said.
Westmont Hilltop coach Dave Lynch said his team drew off the experience of the previous meeting against Central Cambria.
“We were down by a couple last time, and we left scoring 11 runs against them. We told the girls to not get too high, not get too low, whatever the situation is, and they responded. They never gave up,” Lynch said.
Rozich immediately settled down and retired the next nine batters.
“She’s a tough kid – a great player. She was a beast today. She rebounded after that first inning, and she was hitting the ball all over the place. It was a great, great performance by her today,” Lynch said.
Liz Veranese forced in a run with a two-out bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the first inning. Sarah Gibbons drove in two with a two-out double and Bella Kist added an RBI single that tied the score at 4-all.
“We lost our momentum at that point,” Ruddek said.
Central Cambria threatened to retake the lead in the top of the sixth inning when Abby Claar reached base on an error. Hayden Turner singled to left, and Claar was initially ruled safe at third by umpire Landon Graham.
“The umpire behind home plate made a really quick call on that play. That really should have been the third-base umpire’s call on that play. That umpire, in my mind, was about to call her out, but (Graham) somehow called her safe,” Lynch said.
Graham, who took over at home plate after Wes Myers had to leave the game because of illness, conferred with third-base umpire Andy Waligora per Lynch’s request.
“I asked if they could discuss that because I thought (Waligora) had a better angle on it, which he did,” Lynch said.
Ruddek chose not to comment on the reversed call. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Rozich and Gibbons put the third-seeded Hilltoppers on top for good. Kylie Sweeney and Rozich scored the go-ahead runs.
“We had a lot of hope in Abby, and she didn’t let up another run after that first inning. There were a lot of hits, but our defense helped her pull it out,” Sweeney said.
Katie Scott and Matlin led Central Cambria with two hits each. Scott is the only player Ruddek will lose to graduation. Scott, a four-year starter, batted .532 with six doubles and 12 runs batted in.
“We have a young team, and we have a lot of potential,” Ruddek said. “Losing Scott is going to be difficult, but we have a really good young team, and I think we can rebound from this for sure.”