CLARION, Pa. (D9Sports) –Clarion’s last four softball games have been rather unconventional, but the Lady Cats are happy to come out of those four games with a 3-1 record after taking two games from visiting Forest Area Monday afternoon at Paul A. Weaver Park.
(Photo of MacKenzie DiTullio, the Hager Paving Player of the Game)
Relisten to the completion of the first game and the entire second game.
It was Senior Day for Clarion, and the Lady Cats made the most of its completing a game suspended April 11 by beating Forest Area 12-2 in five innings and then rolling to a 15-0, four-inning win in the regular scheduled contest.
One of those seniors, MacKenzie DiTullio, who was 2-for-2 in the second game with a triple, two runs scored and three RBIs while being named the Hager Paving Player of the Game talked about the strange few days for Clarion, which also included the Lady Cats going 1-1 Saturday with a win at A-C Valley and a home loss later in the day to Redbank Valley.
Monday started out with Clarion and Forest Area resuming the April 11 game in the top of the fourth — Clarion was the visiting team — and the Lady Cats up 7-1.
It was quickly 9-1 thanks to a one-out Tori Vega doubles followed by a run-scoring triple by Alexis Constantino and a two-base error on a ball hit by Maya Thornton.
Forest Area got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on a base hit by Jessica Wagner that scored Jasmine Ginnery, who had walked, but Clarion put the ribbon on the win with three more runs in the fifth including an RBI triple by Kait Constantino.
For the game, Thornton was 2-for-3 with a pair of triples, two runs scored and an RBI with Kait Constantino going 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and a run scored. Alexis Constantino also added a triple, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored, while Vega was 1-for-1 with a double, a walk and a run scored and Sadie Rudesyle was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
For Forest Area, Wagner was 1-for-1 with an RBI single and a walk. Jen Lander and Jasmine Ginnery scored runs for the Fires.
Kaitlyn Constantino got the win going five innings allowing two runs on one hit, five walks and a hit batter while striking out 10.
Jasmine Ginnery took the loss giving up 12 runs, 11 earned, on 11 hits and six walks while striking out four in five innings.
The second game was all Clarion with the Lady Cats using an 11-run third inning to cruise to the 15-0 win.
The Lady Cats led 2-0 after scoring twice in the second before sending 15 batters to the plate in the third getting 10 hits while walking once and reaching on two of the five Forest Area errors committed in the inning. In fact, seven of the 11 runs in the innig were unearned after a costly two-out error on a ball hit by Ava Kiser that would have ended the inning.
Clarion then put the game away with two more runs in the fourth with the winning run scoring on another Forest Area error.
In addition to DiTullio’s big second game, Alexis Constantino was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBIs, while Kiser was 1-for-2 with a triple and three runs scored and Thornton was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Kait Constantino added a 2-for-4 day with two runs scored and an RBI and Rudesyle was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
Rudesyle got the win giving up an infield single to Lander while also walking four and striking out eight.
Lander took the loss allowing 15 runs, seven earned, on 16 hits and two walks.
Clarion improved to 10-5 after the two wins with Forest Area dropping to 3-10. Clarion is back in action Thursday at Keystone to close out the regular season while hosts Union Wednesday and Rocky Grove Thursday to close out its season. Both of those contests are scheduled for West Forest High School.
