HEGINS — Tamaqua went on the road to Tri-Valley and shined in all phases of the game for a 10-5 league road win on Friday afternoon.
Naomi Knitter tossed a complete game five run gem and Paige Bumbulsky snapped for a solo home run in the top of the sixth to break a knotted score for the 6-5 lead and the eventual five-run win.
“That’s the goal is to limit the pitches and we played a clean game with few errors,” Knitter said. “That’s what we’ve been working on at practice and now it’s showing in games.”
Tamaqua (7-4) took an early lead before Tri-Valley (4-3) knotted the score multiple times by the fifth inning. Bumbulsky’s solo home run in the top of the sixth proved to be the difference and gave the Blue Raiders a 6-5 lead, one they never relinquished.
“Any time you play Tri-Valley they’re a tough team and I just wanted to keep it close,” Tamaqua coach Tony Zancosky said. “We knew we could score more runs and just had to be patient.”
Knitter went a complete game in the pitching circle, allowing five runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts. She also left 11 Bulldogs stranded on base and only allowed runs in three innings.
“The goal is first pitch strike which I was pretty good with and then it got a little iffy in the middle of the game and I came back which was good and it definitely helped our situation in the field,” Knitter said.
Molly Evans and Bumbulsky each drove in two runs to lead Tamaqua’s lineup while Knitter had a triple and Mia Bamford and Evans each had doubles to lead the way for extra-base hits.
Tamaqua got going early against Tri-Valley pitcher Amber Lettich when Peyton Faust was hit by a pitch and Nico Conahan walked with the bases loaded before a pop out and fly out ended the inning. Knitter singled and Mia Bamford walked in the top of the second inning before a pair of strikeouts ended the scoring threat.
Conahan and Bumbulsky each singled to lead off the third inning before Conahan scored on an error by the catcher to put Tamaqua ahead, 1-0.
Knitter came through in the next at bat with an RBI triple to right field to score Bumbulsky for the 2-0 lead.
“We had some key hits in the middle of the lineup today which we’ve been lacking lately so it was nice to see,” Zancosky said.
Tri-Valley sliced into the deficit against Knitter in the bottom of the third when Mya Schwalm singled on a groundball into into center field to score Savanah Stiely for the 2-1 difference.
Conahan extended Tamaqua’s lead in the top of the fourth with an RBI groundball error to second base to score Ceanna Gormley for the 3-1 lead.
Cupsta then tripled on a fly ball to right field to score Ava Snyder and Stiely to knot the score at 3-3, the first tied score of the game. The Bulldogs weren’t done there as Cupsta stole home for the 4-3 lead.
Tamaqua struck right back in the fifth when Sophia Zrinski reached on an error to shortstop to score Knitter and knot the score at 4-4. Two batters later, Bamford scored on a wild pitch for the 5-4 lead.
Alina Leonard singled on a ground ball into left field to score Lupole to bring Tri-Valley back within a 5-5 tied score. That’s the last time the game would be knotted as Knitter held the Bulldogs scoreless the rest of the way.
Bumbulsky homered on a fly ball to straight away center field for the 6-5 lead two batters into the sixth inning before Bamford doubled into left field to score Evans for the 7-5 lead.
“That was really helpful and it got our adrenaline up and got us to lock in and we went into the batters box with a purpose,” Knitter said. “Scoring runs early gets us a good start and gets us pumped up.”
Lettich was pulled from the pitching circle for Tri-Valley in the top of the sixth, finishing the start with 5.2 innings pitched, seven runs, nine hits and nine strikeouts. Leonard went the final 1.1 innings, serving up three runs on three hits.