H.S. Softball: Wyoming Valley West blanks Delaware Valley in quarterfinals

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KINGSTON — Wyoming Valley West didn’t have any hits the first time through the batting order Monday. The Spartans didn’t have any worries either.

Thanks to a unique single in the fifth and an error in the sixth, Valley West scored seven times with two outs to defeat Delaware Valley 8-0 in a District 2/4 Class 6A softball quarterfinal game.

“That has been us the entire season,” Valley West coach Jessica Ras said. “It’s always taken us once through the lineup before we really start connecting. So the first time around, I was not too worried because that’s the way we’ve been the entire season.”

Fourth-seeded Valley West (5-10) will play at top-seeded Hazleton Area (9-11) at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals. Hazleton Area has won all six D2-6A titles, but is having a down year by its standards. Plus, Valley West lost both regular-season games by one run.

Fifth-seeded Delaware Valley ended its season at 5-16.

Valley West didn’t have a hit until Madison Ostroski led off the fourth inning with a single. Madison Austra followed with a single and an out later Abby Yenalevitch singled for the first of her four RBI.

The Spartans added three more runs in the fifth. Isabella Seip singled with one out and Ostrowski walked with two outs. Austra then sent a lower liner to center. Del Val center fielder Ashlynn McCardle raced in to attempt to pluck the ball before it hit the grass. She got her glove under the ball, but the force knocked it off her hand for an RBI single. Yenalevitch added a two-run single for a 4-0 lead.

Valley West added four runs in the sixth, with a two-out error on Seip’s grounder opening the door for three consecutive RBI hits — a triple by Kyla Hand, a single by Ostroski and a double by Austra. Austra’s double bounced off the left-center fence, a hit which would have cleared the fence at many Wyoming Valley Conference fields.

Yenalevitch topped off her four-RBI game with a run-scoring single for the final run.

Yenalevitch was also strong in the circle. She allowed just two hits — an infield single in the first and a single to left in the seventh. She was able to work out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and situations in the third and fourth where Del Val stranded two runners.

“She threw a two-hitter. I’m proud of her,” Ras said. “We’ve had her for three years and I know she wants this for her senior year.”

District 2/4 Class 6A Quarterfinals

Wyo. Valley West 8, Delaware Valley 0

Delaware Valley`AB`R`H`BI

Sullivan dp-p`3`0`1`0

J.Dickerson 3b`4`0`0`0

Calvario ss`3`0`0`0

Eby c`2`0`1`0

Stahlman cr`0`0`0`0

McCardle cf`2`0`0`0

Capeci rf`3`0`0`0

C.Dickerson rf`2`0`0`0

Bird 1b`2`0`0`0

Kudder ph`0`0`0`0

Donnelly p`2`0`0`0

Jordan 2b/fx`0`0`0`0

Totals`23`0`2`0

Wyo. Valley West`AB`R`H`BI

Seip 1b`3`2`1`0

Hand cf`3`1`1`1

Ostroski lf`3`3`2`1

Austra c`4`2`3`2

Long 3b`2`0`0`0

Yenalevitch p`4`0`3`4

Geffert ss`4`0`0`0

Yurko 3b`3`0`0`0

Lynch dp`2`0`0`0

Warman rf/fx`1`0`0`0

Totals`29`8`10`8

Delaware Valley`000`000`0 — 0

Wyo. Valley West`000`134`x — 8

2B — Austra, 3B — Hand.

Delaware Valley`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Donnelly (L)`5.2`9`8`4`4`6

Sullivan`0.1`1`0`0`0`0

Wyo. Valley West`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Yenalevitch (W)`7`2`0`0`6`5