UPWARD TREND
BLOOMSBURG — With the ability to make adjustments on the fly, Bloomsburg cruised to a 9-0 win over Hughesville in high school softball Thursday afternoon.
The alterations began in the first inning with starting pitcher Ellen Hull finding herself in a jam. Spartans leadoff hitter Sara Stroup, in her first varsity at-bat, roped a single to left and proceeded to steal second. She caught the Panthers (3-1) by surprise, stealing third to put the Spartans in position to score with no outs.
Hull responded by recording her first three of eight consecutive strikeouts to get out of the jam.
“She’s challenging hitters and that’s the difference,” Bloomsburg coach Joe Devine said. “When she goes right after the hitters, throws the ball hard and gets strike one, she’s in good shape.
“... It makes a big difference for her definitely.”
It showed as the senior recorded 11 strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter in four innings. She hit her spots with a variation of pitches throughout, messing with the Spartans’ vision and timing.
“We tried to get her to work with the off-speed stuff,” Devine said. “The changeup is very much a work in progress for her at this point. She’s working on it, and we went into this game with an idea, that even if she didn’t need it as much, we were going to work it in to build some confidence for her.
“... I was happy with the way she threw it today.”
All three of the Spartans’ hits came against Hull, picking up their last two in the fourth inning. Sarah Wertz and Brook-Lynn Walters each singled and got into scoring position on a wild pitch with one out. Hull got out of that unscathed with her last two strikeouts of the contest.
Wertz was the opposing pitcher and looked in control early. Devine, however, noticed something in her delivery after the second inning that woke up Bloomsburg’s offense.
“She had a little bit of a screwball, and when she threw it, she adjusted her feet on the rubber every time she threw that pitch,” he said. “We try to look for those little things because this game is about little things. ... It helped out today.”
With the adjustment made at the plate, the Panthers struck for nine runs off 14 hits — Maddie Devine’s first-inning single, as part of a 4-for-4 performance, was the only hit allowed by Wertz in the first two innings. Four of those hits went for extra bases.
The Panthers nearly batted around in the third, as all nine hitters went to the plate, five scoring. Rylee Klinger had the biggest hit of the frame, tripling to left. The hit scored Olivia Hull — getting on via a 3-foot bunt — from first. Rita Nuss also doubled in a run and later scored. Klinger went 2-for-4 on the day.
“They hit the ball well and found some holes,” Devine said. “I was glad to see some success from them, it was a good day all around.”
The Panthers could have hung a crooked number if not for Wertz getting Maddie Morris, who went 3-for-4, at first on a sacrifice bunt. Spartans’ first baseman Tori Barto then made a heads-up play to nail a hesitant Maddie Morris at home for 1-3-2 double play.
Bloomsburg then played small ball to score another three runs in the fourth, picking up four singles and two stolen bases. They also got help from the Spartans on an infield error.
Maddie Devine drove in Olivia Hull in the fifth for the game’s final run as the Panthers nearly mercy-ruled the Spartans, leaving Devine stranded at second. The Panthers left seven on base, six in scoring position.
Joe Devine wasn’t worried as the comfortable lead allowed him to get more players in the game. He turned to Roberts for two innings of relief pitching. She struck out another four batters before handing the ball over to Nuss who had 1-2-3 inning. Nuss did walk Walters to start the inning, but she was thrown out attempting to steal second.
All told, Wertz pitched the complete game, striking out eight batters.
The strikeout total was one positive Hughesville coach David Dimoff took away from a young, inexperienced roster. The Spartans roster 17 athletes; 14 of them had no varsity experience before last week.
“She’s a senior and she missed her sophomore year with an injury and last year due to COVID,” he said. “She hasn’t pitched since she was a freshman. Today, she had eight strikeouts and no walks. She did really well.”
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