CLARION, Pa. (D9Sports) — A week ago, Clarion and Cranberry hooked up in a classic pitcher’s duel softball game in Seneca and much of the same was expected Monday afternoon at Paul A. Weaver Park.

(Photo: Jenna Huegel, the Hager Paving Player of the Game)

Funny how things don’t always turn out the way you expect them too.

Listen to the game —

After Cranberry won a 3-1 decision last Wednesday in Seneca more of the same looked to be in store when the Berries Natalie Barcinas took the circle against Clarion’s Sadie Rudesyle, the same exact matchup as that game.

But instead of the pitchers ruling the day, it was the offense, specifically Cranberry’s that did the talking Monday in a 21-5, six-innings Berries win.

Cranberry twice batted around sending 13 batters to the plate while scoring nine runs in the fifth inning and then sending 11 women to the plate while scoring seven more runs.

Jenna Huegel was right in the middle of all the action walking and scoring in the fifth and tripling home three runs while scoring herself on an error on the same play in the sixth. She finished the day 3-for-4 with three run scored and four RBIs while also making a sensational diving catch in the first inning on a ball hit by Kate Constantino with the bases loaded and two outs that would have surely scored three runs. For her effort, Huegel was named the Hager Paving Player of the Game and talked about the win.

Huegel was far from the only Cranberry batter to have a good afternoon. All nine hitters in the Berries’ lineup had at least one hit with six of them having multiple-hit afternoons as Cranberry finished with 20 hits in the game.

Malliah Schreck was 4-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI, Libby Kiefer was 3-for-5 with an RBI and her courtesy runner Ellie Kahle scored three times and Rachel McCauley was 3-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored and two RBI.

All three hitters were right in the thick of things during the 16-run outburst between the fifth and sixth innings.

In the fifth, McCauley and Shreck both came to the plate twice and both had a pair of singles and two runs scored in the inning, while Kiefer had a base hit in the fifth as well.

Then in the sixth, Kiefer had a single and McCauley drew a walk with Kahle scoring for Kiefer and McCauley also coming around to score.

The game almost ended in the fifth after Cranberry’s nine-run inning put the Berries ahead 14-1, but Clarion avoided the 10-run rule temporarily with a four-spot of its own thanks in part to a two-run double by Maya Thornton, who finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Lindsey Kemmer added an RBI single in the inning that saw a pair of Cranberry errors help keep the game alive.

Prior to Cranberry’s late-innings outburst on offense, the game was shaping up a lot like the contest in Seneca last week with Cranberry getting a couple of key at-bats to take a 5-1 lead after four.

The Berries struck first when they loaded the bases with no outs in the second against Rudesyle, but the Clarion hurlers nearly got out of the jam getting two outs and going to a 3-2 count on Bree Swartzfager. But Swartzfager drew the walk to put Cranberry up 1-0.

Then in the third, back-to-back leadoff singles by Huegel and Kiefer followed by a wild pitch put runners at second and third with no outs. McCauley brought home one run with a ground out, and Schreck scored another with a triple to center. She was thrown out on the play trying to turn it into an inside-the-park home run after a strong relay throw by Carly Best, the second baseman.

Cranberry tacked on two more runs in the fourth thanks to Clarion’s inability to turn a double play on a one-out grounder to the circle by Swartzfager. Rudesyle fed shortstop Alexis Constantino for a force at second, but Constantino’s return throw to first pulled Thornton off the bag.

The Berries made Clarion pay for the mistake when Barcinas and Huegel hit back-to-back doubles to make it 5-1.

Clarion got its run in the third when Best led off with a double. It looked like she might be stranded at third following a wild pitch, but Kiefer’s toss back to the circle went over Barcinas’ head into centerfield with two outs allowing Best to score.

The Lady Cats looked poised to strike early loading the bases with two outs in the first when Kate Constantino ripped the ball into the right-centerfield gap that looked like it was sure to score multiple runs. But Huegel raced over and dove to make the catch setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Barcinas got the win going six innings allowing five runs, three earned, on eight hits and four walks while striking out three.

Rudesyle took the loss going 4 ⅔ innings giving up 14 runs, 13 earned, on 14 hits and five walks while striking out two.

The win moves Cranberry to 9-2 on the year with Clarion dropping to 3-8.

The Berries are back in action Wednesday when they host Forest Area. Clarion returns to action Tuesday at Brookville.