Conrad Weiser softball defeats Tulpehocken behind Miller’s dominance

Conrad Weiser’s Val Miller struck out 13 batters as the host Scouts defeated Tulpehocken, 10-3, Tuesday afternoon in a Berks League crossover softball contest.

Conrad Weiser, out of Berks Section 2, improved to 4-0 overall. The Section 3 Trojans fell to 1-4.

Played in a light rain from the second inning on, the Scouts scored in every inning while their starter was dealing.

On the surface it might appear to have been a no-doubter, but that was far from the case. Weiser needed a huge bottom of the fifth to finally put away from the Trojans. The hosts sent 10 batters to plate and scored four runs off Tulpehocken starter Maddie Schies, who was clearly tiring but valiantly helped keep her club in the contest to that point.

It felt about as close a battle as a 10-3 final could.

“We’ve got to get better in the field,” Weiser associate coach Steve Ferko said. “We are making too many mistakes. We gave up three runs and they got (two) hits. That’s been an issue through our first four games. But to our credit, we play 21 outs and we hit the ball. But against better teams I don’t know that we’re going to hit our way out of trouble.”

The Scouts broke it open late on four singles and a pair of walks. The big blow came from Amanda Schaeffer. Schaeffer smoked a Schies offering back through the box for a two-run single with one out to give Weiser a 6-3 lead and some breathing room. Four more batters would reach base safely before Schies struck out two of the final three she faced in the frame to end the extended rally.

“Amanda came through with a big hit there,” Ferko said, “and Madi followed with another. She had a nice game, hitting in the seven-hole for us. We got some baserunners, generated some walks. You get some timely hits and a long ball, you can do some damage.”

Weiser had issues recording the third out in the top of the first, a development that allowed the Trojans to jump in front 2-0 – while also allowing for the rare four-strikeout turn at-bat. After whiffing the first two batters of the game, Miller’s punchout of Tulpehocken’s Audrey Jonas was nullified when the pitch eluded Weiser catcher Emma Price and Jonas reached safely.

Brooke Scheider followed with a walk, then Jonas and Scheider came around to score on Schies’ RBI single. Miller struck out Tori Scheider to end the frame and notch a four-K half-inning.

Weiser responded with a run in the bottom half, the first of four consecutive at-bats in which the Scouts plated a solo run. An infield groundout to first base off the bat of Price allowed Aarika Ferko to come home from third. Ferko led off with a single and went around on the walk and a pair of groundouts.

Weiser tied it on a passed ball on the bottom of the second, then grabbed its first lead in the third on a sacrifice fly from Price.

But Tulpehocken tagged Miller for a run in the top of the fourth to re-tie the ballgame. Tori Scheider led off with a base on balls, stole second, was sacrificed to third and came home on an infield groundout.

The Scouts took the lead for good in the fourth. Brianna Pichler led off with a booming triple to dead center field, the hardest-hit ball of the game, and scored on Madi Potthoff’s follow-up single to center.

“Like I told my girls, (Weiser) is undefeated for a reason,” Tulpehocken head coach John Gilmer said. “I’m basically playing a freshman and sophomore squad. We’re improving every game but we’re just not at the level of the upper-echelon teams. We faced a quality pitcher and a good-hitting team.

“I’m not overly-disappointed. When you have that many young girls, it can happen.”

Although Weiser stayed unbeaten, early miscues are something Ferko wants ironed out if the Scouts are going to contend.

“We’ve got to shore things up,”Ferko said. “A lot of it is, I think, because of the weather. We haven’t been out a whole lot. We’ve been outside three times. It started getting cold, raining.

“At least, that’s what I hope it was. I’ll keep telling myself that.”