SHIPPENSBURG – Erica Pooler stood alone on a grassy patch directly behind the Bellefonte (Pa.) dugout. The senior, with her eyeblack smeared because of sweat, just stood with an amazed look, holding her PIAA Class AAA gold medal. She gripped it tightly.
"Amazing," the Lock Haven University recruit said. "We did it."
Shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. If you remember, Pooler said Bellefonte had a legit chance after a 5-4 win over Ambridge (Pa.) at Penns Valley.
Apparently so. It appeared that destiny was on Bellefonte's side the entire PIAA postseason. The Raiders were truly the comeback kids.
"I truly believe we were meant to win this game," Pooler said. "Everything just completely fell right in front of us. I can't believe it."
And it only seemed fitting, yet appropriate, that the song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was playing on the portable radio as the Raiders exited their dugout after a 3-2 victory over Jersey Shore (Pa.) at Shippensburg's Robb Field.
It was the first state title in the history of Bellefonte High School.
"We fought really hard, and we knew that we wanted it," said pitcher Alexandra Stathes, who picked up the victory in relief. "All we wanted to get was this one. Even though we were down, we still had confidence that we could do this."
It's like that heavyweight championship fight. Yes, Bellefonte (24-3) got knocked down a few times. Ambridge's Kayla Haslett hit a leadoff home run off the foul pole in left field to start a PIAA Class AAA opening round contest in Penns Valley.
Yough's (Herminie, Pa.) Nicole Sleith was just completely dominating, not allowing a runner to even reach third in the first eight innings.
Jersey Shore's Hannah Yost got two across the plate yesterday in the third inning to build a 2-0 Bulldog lead.
Yet, like all champions do, the Raiders bounced off the canvas quickly and landed the knockout blow. Christina Stathes' two-run single against Ambridge. Brittany Smith's game-winning RBI triple vs. Yough. Jess Gmerek's bases-clearing double against Montour (McKees Rocks, Pa.). Yesterday, it was just determination and belief.
"We never backed down, and we kept believing that we could win this game," Kohlhepp said. "It came down to the wire for us. The big thing is we stood aggressively both offensively and defensively. We just pressed and tried to force other teams to make sure. And when you have a great team like Jersey Shore, you are just hoping that they will make one or two mistakes, and you can take advantage of that small crack."
Make no mistake about it. Brooke Koch was on her game. The Jersey Shore senior pitcher twirled a beauty. Ten strikeouts. Only two balls even left the infield.
"Brooke was throwing her pitches, and she was strong. She was hitting her spots, and she had us off-balance," the Bellefonte first baseman said.
Like Penns Valley, where the Lady Raiders trailed 5-2 entering the final inning, Bellefonte still had a pulse. And three outs to work with.
"As long as we have one out, one strike left, we are battling until we are done," Pooler said.
Two base hits by Smith and Christina Stathes and an error by Shore loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. Two errors led to two Bellefonte runs, and another scored when Kohlhepp took a risk by sending pinch runner Jillian Musser home on the infield-fly.
"We put speed over there when we pinch-ran Jillian and we had to try to score with the shortstop kind of back-pedaling," Kohlhepp said.
Just like that, the comeback kids did it again.
"We never give up. And that's the most important thing," said Raychel DeArmitt, who picked up the save after throwing six pitches in the seventh. "Everyone on this team always believes."
Tom Fox is sports editor at The Lock Haven (Pa.) Express and covers Central and Northeastern Pa. for MaxPreps. He can be reached at tfox@lockhaven.com.
