Myers, Latrobe end No. 1 Hempfield’s 41-game section winning streak

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, May 3, 2018 | 9:36 PM

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Nothing through. Nothing drops. Deep breath.

Kiley Myers had those words for her teammates inside an anxious seventh-inning huddle Thursday as Latrobe clung to a one-run lead and Hempfield had runners at the corners with no outs.

Myers got behind the wheel of the Wildcats and they came along for the ride.

“We got this,” Myers added.

No. 2 Latrobe escaped the late rough patch rather calmly and punctuated a pitching gem from Myers, who was nearly unhittable in a 1-0 victory over rival and No. 1 Hempfield in a Section 2-6A softball pitchers' duel at Robert Kalp Field.

Myers, a fast-throwing junior, struck out 15, did not walk a batter and twirled a two-hitter as the Wildcats (9-2, 8-2) ended the mighty Spartans' 41-game section winning streak.

The only offense was a solo home run by freshman Jordan Tallman in the top of the seventh.

Hempfield (13-2, 9-1), which had a 46-game overall win streak stopped earlier this season against Penn-Trafford but had won eight straight since, has to hit the reset button again.

Veteran Spartans coach Bob Kalp dislikes talking about streaks more than seeing them end, but a few more were stopped for his team this time.

• Hempfield had not lost a section game since April 15, 2015 — 8-3 vs. Norwin.

• It had not lost a home game since April 20, 2016 — 5-3 vs. Yough.

• The Spartans had not been shut out since June 10, 2015 — 1-0 vs. Cumberland Valley.

“Now they're on a streak … one in a row,” Kalp said of Latrobe. “Maybe that'll go against them the next time we play, that streak that they're on.”

Latrobe, in turn, ended a nine-game losing streak against the Spartans, including a defeat in last year's WPIAL championship.

“We enjoy playing this team,” Latrobe coach Rick Kozusko said. “This goes back a ways. A game like that is what we expect and what we want when we play these people. To come out with the win is icing on the cake.”

Watching Myers pitch was like watching a rock concert. The band played around her, but your eyes kept returning to the lead singer as she continuously popped Makayla Munchinski's catcher's mitt.

And there was some anger in Myers' arm: the Wildcats were incensed by an upset loss to Norwin Wednesday. And, a 3-1 loss to Hempfield on April 23.

“She is a tiger on the mound out there at all times,” Kozusko said. “We wanted to get a win to get that (bad) taste out of our mouths from (Wednesday). Come back and win today, forget about that loss … treat the rest of these games like playoff games. They're all going to be playoff-caliber teams.”

Myers, a Marist recruit, fanned nine consecutive hitters at one stretch, and nine of 11. Six Spartans struck out twice.

“This game was huge for us, we were looking forward to it all offseason … we wanted to beat their section winning streak,” Myers said. “It's huge to beat them here.

“I threw a lot of rise balls; those were a lot of the strikeouts.”

Hempfield senior Maddie Uschock only allowed six hits and struck out nine. But Tallman's blast to left-center proved to be all the offense Myers needed to blank the Spartans.

“She swings a good bat,” Kozusko said. “She was hot (Wednesday) in a JV game; she went 4 for 4. So we made a decision she was going to be our DP today. I tell these freshmen, the underclassmen, at any time, be ready. Show us what you can do.”

Said Myers: “She was due for one.”

Tallman turned on a 3-2 pitch for her first varsity homer.

“It was in on the plate a little more,” Tallman said. “She is a great pitcher and she has an amazing change-up so I was hunting for that. I didn't get it. It came a little in and I took it to center. It was one of those feelings when it hit the bat I knew it was gone.”

Kalp considered walking Tallman and pinch-hitting for Uschock but chose not to do either. He carries no regret as a result.

“Give Tallman credit, she is a freshman, she got all of it and it left the yard; simple as that,” Kalp said. “She's in the sixth hole, she struck out before, you gotta go after her. She won the battle that time.”

Hempfield was primed for a walk-off in the seventh. Freshman catcher Emma Hoffner reached on an error to start the home half of the seventh.

Hoffner made it all the way to third and Ashley Orischak was then hit by a pitch. Orischak stole second with one out after Myers struck out Allison Podkul, who made a nice sliding catch in the sixth.

Jessica Persin also struck out and Myers got Uschock to ground out for the final out — but not before the ball caromed off Myers' glove and was scooped up by shortstop Karley Kovatch, who fired to first.

“Eleven out of 12 struck out … it's pretty hard to win when you can't make contact,” Kalp said. “Maddie did a whale of a job and gave us a chance, right down to the very last at-bat. We needed a good solid line drive. It was deflected, and their shortstop made a nice play.”

IUP recruit Kovatch had two hits for Latrobe.

“You have to give Latrobe credit,” Kalp said. “They had come off a downer losing to Norwin. They came here and played a whale of a game. We're going to grow from it as well. Latrobe is as good as anybody who is going to be in the tournament. We have to do a better job of swinging the bats against the hard ones.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Hempfield Area, Latrobe