DuBois Central Catholic ousts Leechburg from PIAA playoffs

By: George Guido
Monday, June 3, 2019 | 7:47 PM

DuBois Central Catholic came into Monday’s PIAA Class A softball opener with a reputation of an offensive juggernaut.

The Cardinals proved it Monday afternoon with a 14-4 victory over Leechburg at Heindl Field in a game terminated during the sixth inning when DuBois Central built its lead to 10 runs.

The Cardinals pounded out 17 hits, including six in the fourth inning when DuBois Central batted around and tallied five runs.

DuBois Central will play Claysburg-Kimmel in the state quarterfinals Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

The Cardinals record is 15-9, but on the field, they are 24-0. The team forfeited nine games because of a player who wasn’t entered on the roster was reportedly turned into the PIAA.

Leechburg, the No. 3 team from the WPIAL, finished the season 17-3. It was the Blue Devils’ first appearance in the PIAA tournament in 10 years.

Leechburg fell behind 3-0 in the first inning on a single, triple and a home run to dead center field by cleanup hitter Mia Meholick.

“We’ve been scoring a lot of runs,” Cardinals coach George Heigel said. “We can hit up and down the lineup, so there’s not a soft spot, and I’m liking the fact that we’ve been getting off to a quick start two games in a row. That sets the tone.”

But the Blue Devils (17-3) scored single runs in the second and third innings to cut their deficit to 3-2.

Emma Ritchie singled and scored in the second on the first of three singles by Aubry Skeel. In the third, Sky Raybush singled, but was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on a wild pitch.

With Kristen Knapp on third and Olivia Shimer on first, Shimer attempted to steal second, and Knapp scored on the throw toward second. Shimer was out scrambling back to first.

“That team’s good; my goodness, they hit everything that we threw them,” Leechburg coach Debbi Young said. “I wasn’t expecting that; they’re definitely a nice hitting team.”

DuBois Central broke the game open in the fourth and kept the barrage going with three runs apiece in the fifth and sixth.

“It was nice we kept building on getting some runs here and there as the game went on,” Heigel said. “Our pitcher wasn’t sharp as she normally is; she usually has double-digit strikeouts. They had a nice hitting team, I thought. We had trouble with their speed and their small game with the slappers.”

Ritchie had a single, double and scored two runs.

“There were some timely things that we could have got; we had people on base that we should have advanced,” Young said. “I’m not disappointed. This was fun, and it was great for the girls, a great experience for them.”

Leechburg will graduate just three starters — Skeel, Knapp and Kiera Jones — so a run at a 34th straight WPIAL playoff berth in 2020 is a distinct possibility.

Tags: Leechburg