Everything comes together for Tigers in rout of Panthers
FRANKLIN TWP. — Bloomsburg has shown that it can remain in the fight with anybody this year. Far more often, though, its inexperience has been displayed during its 10-game losing streak.
That was the case on Thursday as nothing went right for the Panthers from start to finish in a 16-1, four-inning loss to Southern Columbia.
Not to take anything away from the Tigers, who are going through their own growing pains, as they took what the Panthers gave them all game leading to the walk-off hit by pitch. The Tigers got their third win of the season — all in the last six games — by making Panthers pitcher Brie Wasko pitch to them. Often missing her spots, Wasko walked nine batters, including a string of five straight in the decisive first inning. When she found the zone, the Tigers pounded seven hits, two going for extra bases.
The Tigers did most of their damage with one out in the first. Following an infield error, Emily Reese launched a two-run home run to left-center that just kept carrying. From there, Wasko, clearly shaken, threw 20 of her next 22 pitches outside the zone. During that same period, the Tigers were aggressive on the basepaths, taking the extra base four times on wild pitches.
"We've been preaching the last few games to make contact and the ball will go," Southern Columbia coach Taylor Motko said. "We struggled early on with our hitting and we've been focusing on it the last few games. It really showed today with the girls showing their patience. We can occasionally get unfocused in the box, but I'm glad we stayed sharp today."
The Tigers' ability to get on base and keep the pressure solely on the Panthers forced Bloomsburg coach Joe Devine to reshuffle his infield. With the Panthers playing down a starter due to a concussion, he tried out his daughter, Maddie, at shortstop instead of her traditional catcher position.
The move helped stop the bleeding and looked to have calmed Wasko down some, but the errors and walks kept coming and the Tigers struck for six more runs — all with two outs — in the second inning.
This time, it was a bloop single by Aubrey Miller and a double to left-center field by Ella Podgurski that drove in two runs apiece and did the bulk of the damage. It looked as if Wasko was going to work her way out of damage, recording her only strikeouts of the game in back-to-back at-bats with the bases loaded.
"(Wasko) is only a freshman and like the rest of our young team, she's getting experience," Bloomsburg coach Joe Devine said. "She and everyone else just had to slow down today. When things start to go downhill, we start to speed things up and get away from what was working. We have a lot of fight in us as evidenced by the fact (undefeated) Loyalsock has only given up 30 runs this year, and we're responsible for 20 of them."
That fight was on display when the Panthers were faced with the prospect of the mercy rule in the third inning. Devine picked up their first hit of the game and scored from first on an outfield error to extend the game.
The Panthers only scratched out three hits against Alana Reuter, who had the Panthers' timing off all afternoon to the tune of seven strikeouts. Around the zone all game, Reuter walked two hitters and held the Panthers to 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position.
"I always ask before the game if it's working and I didn't even have to ask today because Alana came over and said 'Coach, everything's working,'" Motko said. "You know that's good for momentum going into the game as well."
The Tigers pushed across two more runs, thanks in large to more wild pitches to set up the unceremonious walk-off with the bases-loaded hit by pitch by Miller to score Reese, who singled to start the fourth.
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