Antelopes eye state softball title

By the time this story was published in print on June 17, the girls had already won the state championship played at Penn State on June 16. See the June 24 issue of The Citizen for full coverage and photos from the championship game.&emsp;&emsp;The Avonworth girls' softball team continued their trek into uncharted territory, securing a spot in yesterday's state championship game after picking up wins in the PIAA quarter- and semi-finals during the past week. The Lady 'Lopes met Lewisburg in the PIAA championship game yesterday at Penn State's Beard Field with the results not available at press time.&emsp;&emsp;The girls took the softball team into the state semifinals Monday for the first time in school history, meeting Bald Eagle Area at St. Francis University. &emsp;&emsp;Avonworth saw a four-run lead cut in half, but took the wind out of the Eagles with five runs in the final inning to lock down a 9-2 victory and punch their ticket to the first ever state title game for the Lady 'Lopes. &emsp;&emsp;"It was a really gutsy performance by our kids," said coach Jenna Muncie. "They picked and picked, and waited for their moment to just break it open and they did."&emsp;&emsp;Alivia Lantzy was on the mound and gave up just three hits while striking out eight batters.&emsp;&emsp;"It was another top notch performance," said Muncie.&emsp;&emsp;Both teams were locked in a scoreless pitchers' duel until Avonworth came to bat in the top of the fourth inning. Leah Kuban jumped on the first pitch thrown at her, and slammed it over the left field fence to put the Lady 'Lopes in front 1-0.&emsp;&emsp;Avonworth got out of a jam that stranded two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth inning. They would add to their lead when they came to bat in the top of the sixth. With one out, Meghan Fissore singled to center field, and after taking a couple of pitches, Leah Kuban was intentionally walked to put two runners on base. Riley Gray followed with a homer to left field, and the inning ended with the Lady 'Lopes in front 4-0.&emsp;&emsp;The Eagles responded in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run home run to tighen the game, but that all changed when Avonworth came to bat in the top of the seventh.&emsp;&emsp;Emma Obersteiner drew a walk to lead off the inning, and Layne Shinsky moved her over to second with a sacrifice bunt. Obersteiner went to third base on a passed ball, and scored from there on a wild pitch to up the lead at 5-2.&emsp;&emsp;Lantzy followed with a base hit, and Fissore brought in a run with a double to left-center for a 6-2 lead. Kuban drew a walk, Riley was intentionally walked, and with the bases loaded, Barie was hit by a pitch to bring home a run for a 7-2 lead.&emsp;&emsp;Heinauer's base hit to center field scored two runs to complete Avonworth's 9-2 win.&emsp;&emsp;Avonworth had advanced to the semifinal game after beating Karns City 7-4 in a quarterfinal game that was played at Mars High School last Thursday. The Lady 'Lopes got a lot of production offensively from the bottom half of the line-up, which accounted for six of their runs.&emsp;&emsp;Avonworth got on the board in the bottom of the second when Gray led off, stroking the first pitch over the left field fence for a solo homer and a 1-0 lead. Barie drew a walk and was moved over to second base with Emma Obersteiner's sac bunt when Shinsky doubled to the gap in left-center to bring home a run for a 2-0 lead.&emsp;&emsp;Some confusion defensively by Avonworth on a pop up behind second base that dropped in led to a run for Karns City in the top of the third, cutting the Lady 'Lopes lead to 2-1. Avonworth made up for that in the bottom of the third with Barie's two-run double and Cassie Heinauer's base hit that scored a run that put the Lady 'Lopes ahead 5-1.&emsp;&emsp;The Gremlins picked up a run in the top of the fourth and two runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut their deficit to one, trailing 5-4.&emsp;&emsp;In the bottom of the fifth, a base hit by Gray and consecutive walks drawn by Barie and Heinauer loaded the bases when Shinsky's hit scored two runs to give Avonworth a cushion down the stretch on the way to their 7-4 victory.&emsp;&emsp;Lantzy surrendered five hits while recording eight strike-outs on the afternoon.