Deja vu in a good way for Lady Vikings

Jun 6, 2023

By Hunter Muro

For the Mirror

MEYERSDALE — Same place, same opponent and most importantly, Glendale made sure it obtained the same result against Meyersdale in the first round of the PIAA Class 1A playoffs on Monday.

The Lady Vikings manufactured two runs in the extra inning and Madison Peterson, who collected 10 strikeouts in a complete-game victory, worked out of a jam in the bottom half as they eliminated Meyersdale for the second consecutive season with a gutty 4-2 win in eight innings.

"I told the girls that we were at the top of our lineup in the eighth, while they were in the middle," Glendale coach Bruce Vereshack said of the situation in extras. "If we’re going to win this game, we’re going to win it right now. I was really confident we were going to."

Glendale, which reached the state semifinals last season before falling to eventual state champion Montgomery, secured a spot in the quarterfinals, where District 7 runner-up Carmichaels awaits.

The third-place finisher out of District 6 hardly thought of themselves as the underdog against the previously unbeaten District 5 champions.

"We thought we were the favorites coming down here," Vereshack said. "We took that approach and had no pressure on us."

Meyersdale (21-1) left 12 runners on base, including two in scoring position in the eighth with a chance to tie it.

"We stranded a ton of runners," Meyersdale coach Tim Miller said. "There were four innings at least where we had runners on third base and couldn't plate a run. We had the opportunities."

Three straight two-out singles in the third allowed Meyersdale to jump on top early. Marcella Dupre singled and moved to second on Amber Long's infield hit. Junior Izabella Donaldson's seeing-eye single through the left side scored Dupre and made it 1-0.

Donaldson, who hadn't given up more than two runs in an outing all season until Monday, went the distance and suffered the loss after surrendering four runs, three earned, on five hits. The junior struck out thirteen and walked two.

She allowed just one hit through the first four innings, but back-to-back hits by the Vikings in the fifth was all it took to draw even.

Glendale's Riley Best, who finished 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored, singled with two outs. Peterson followed it up with a line drive that got under the glove of Meyersdale's Jessica Daughton, allowing her to race around the bases for an two-run inside-the-park home run to knot the game at 2-2.

That remained the score until Best again singled to open the eighth. The senior leadoff hitter moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third and eventually scored on a timely two-out double by Kelly Kasaback to give Glendale a 3-2 lead.

After stealing third, Kasaback came around to score a critical insurance run when Jillian Taylor reached on a throwing error.

Senior Amelia Kretchman singled to put the Red Raiders in business in the eighth. After Daughton and Morgan Walters hit into back-to-back fielder's choices, Dupre singled with two outs. But both were left stranded when Long grounded out to Peterson.

"It was definitely tough. They were really loud and were in my head a bit," Peterson said of the final inning. "I just had to keep going."

GLENDALE (4): Best cf 322, Peterson p 411, Cavalet 2b 400, Kasaback lf 411, Taylor ss 400, Buterbaugh 3b 400, Rydbom c 200, Sinclair 1b 200, Weld rf 300. Totals — 30-4-5.

MEYERSDALE (2): Dupre ss 512, Long lf 502, Izabella Donaldson p 401, Daniels 2b 401, S. Hetz c 410, Z. Hetz 1b 401, Kretchman 3b 401, Daughton rf 400, Walters cf 400. Totals — 38-2-8.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Glendale……………………..000 020 02 – 4 5 5

Meyersdale………………….001 100 00 – 2 8 1

E-Taylor (2), Peterson, Cavalet, Kasaback, Kretchman. 2B-Best, Kasaback, Long, Daniels. HR-Peterson. RBI-Peterson (2), Kasaback, Donaldson. WP-Peterson. LP-Donaldson. SO-Peterson 10, Donaldson 13. BB-Donaldson–2. HBP–Best (by Donaldson), Walters (by Peterson).

Records: Glendale (20-4); Meyersdale (21-1).

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