DUBOIS, Pa. (D9Sports) — Defending state champion South Park, the WPIAL runner-up, scored 12 runs in its final two at-bats to roll past District 5-8-9 champion Karns City in the Class 3A first round at Heindl Field in DuBois.
(Photo of Makenzie Dunn of Karns City. Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)
The Lady Gremlins (16-3) trailed by just two going to the sixth innings before the Eagles exploded for six runs in the sixth and six more in the seventh off of three Karns City pitchers to pull away.
“The game kind of got away from us the last couple of innings,” Karns City manager Mike Stitt said. “If a couple of calls go our way I think we still hang with them. Once the bleeding starts, it is hard to stop. They are a good hitting team. We can’t take anything away from that. Wherever we put the ball, they hit it and they hit it solid. It just didn’t go our way today.”
Katlyn Pavlick was 3-for-3 with two triples, a double, three runs scored and four RBIs for South Park with Chalyn Blackburn going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and a run scored (her courtesy runner Kristen Mesick also scored twice). Jess Dean added a home run while going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs, Julie Shinavski was 2-for-5 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs, Kaitlyn Morrison was 1-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI, Taylor Glowa was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Chelsea Carozza was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI and Laura Shinavski scored twice and drove in one.
Mackenzie Dunn was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI for Karns City.
Dean got the win going 5 ⅓ innings allowing three runs, one earned, on five hits, two walks and two hit batters. She struck out six. Julie Shinavski pitched the final 1 ⅔ innings allowing a hit while striking out one.
Logan Byers made two appearances in the circle for Karn City going a total of six innings allowing seven runs, six earned, on 12 hits and three walks while striking out three to take the loss. She faced two batters in the sixth before being relieved by Makenzie Shay and then came back in the game to get the final three outs in the seventh.
Shay was tagged for seven runs, four earned, on three hits and three walks in an inning-plus of relief, while Dunn allowed three runs on a hit, a walk and a hit batter while not recording an out in the seventh.
South Park will face District 6 champion Philipsburg-Osceola in the quarterfinals Thursday at a site and time to be announced. P-O defeated District 3 runner-up Delone Catholic, 7-1.
“I thought we had a great season,” Mike Stitt said. “Sixteen and three is not a slouch. We are here for a reason. You can’t take anything away from these girls. We are here for a reason. We won the sub-regional. We faced some good teams to get here. We are proud of what the girls accomplished this year.”
SOUTH PARK 17, KARNS CITY 3
Score by Innings
South Park 021 116 6 — 17
Karns City 002 010 0 — 3
SOUTH PARK — 3
Jess Dean p 4222, Kaitlyn Morrison ss 5211, Katlyn Pavlick 3b 3334, Grace Albitz cf 2200, Julie Shinavski dp/p 5222, Chalyn Blackburn c 3131, Kristen Mesick c//ph 1200, Laura Shinavski rf 4201, Alysa Hoellein ph 1000, Chelsea Carozza lf 4121, Jordyn Brinker ph 1001, Taylor Glowa 2b 4032, Kelli Mesick 1b 0000. Totals 37-17-16-15.
KARNS CITY — 2
Logan Byers p 4011, Garrah Milochik cr 0100, Alyssa Stitt ss 4000, Mackenzie Dunn 3b 5021, Kate Allen 2b 3000, Taylor Ekis 1b 2010, Sami Grazioli rf 2010, Emily Wolfe cf 2100, Katie Neff lf 2110, Emma Clark dp 2000, Makenzie Shay p 1000, Brittney Fritters c 0000. Totals 27-3-6-2.
LOB: South Park 6. Karns City 8. Errors: South Park 2. Karns City 5. 2B: Blackburn (2), Pavlick, Morrison. Dunn. 3B: Pavlick (2), Julie Shinavski. HR: Dean. SAC: Laura Shinavski. Grazioli. SB: Dean. CS: Dean, Glowa. Picked off: Allen. DP Karns City (Julia Shinavski to Kelli Mesick; Line drive). Hit by pitcher: Blackburn by Dunn. Allen by Dean, Ekis by Dean.
PITCHING
South Park
Jess Dean 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HP
Julie Shinavski 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 HP
Totals 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 2 HP
Karns City
Logan Byers 6 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K , 0 HP
Makenzie Shay 1 IP, 3 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 0 HP
Mackenzie Dunn 0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HP
Totals: 7 IP, 16 H, 17 R, 12 ER*, 7 BB, 3 K, 1 HP
Byers pitched to 2 batters in the sixth.
Shay pitched to 3 batters in the seventh
Dunn pitched to 3 batters in the seventh
Byers re-entered the game in the seventh to face Hoellein
*By rule, Dunn gets charged with an earned run that Karns City has a team isn’t charged with
Winning pitcher: Jessica Dean
Losing pitcher: Logan Byers
