WEST DEER TOWNSHIP — Shelby Novak tossed a two-hitter, and eight of the nine hitters in the Burrell lineup had at least one hit in a 5-0 victory over Deer Lakes in Section 1-3A softball Thursday afternoon.
“It was a really nice win for us today,” said Novak, a junior who also had two of her team’s nine hits and drove in a run.
“Our defense was on, and our offense was attacking early. We were just good all around. There are no easy games in section play, but we were able to come out here and play a strong game.”
Burrell improved to 3-3 overall and bounced back from an 8-2 loss Monday to Mt. Pleasant in the section opener.
The Bucs, who have alternated wins and losses through their first six games, will shoot for two wins in a row when they visit section foe Southmoreland on Monday.
“We really put a lot of good at-bats together,” Burrell first-year coach Brandon Daughtry said. “We’ve talked a lot about making it tough on the opposing pitcher and defense, putting balls in play and making things happen. We did that pretty consistently today. We aren’t a lineup that will hit four or five home runs a game. We talk about one through nine putting bats on balls, finding holes, getting hits and moving people around.”
Thursday’s game was another in what is a competitive rivalry between the schools across all sports.
“It is just two proud areas and districts,” Daughtry said. “The kids are playing each other from the youngest ages, and the rivalries develop from just seeing each other all the time.”
Burrell and Deer Lakes will rematch at Burrell on April 17.
The Bucs got all the runs they needed in the top of the third.
Leah Waldsmith and Novak got Burrell going with back-to-back one-out singles. Waldsmith moved to third on Novak’s hit and scored on a sacrifice fly to left off the bat of Soph Gregg.
Addy Wojtczak then delivered the game’s biggest blow with a two-run homer to center off Lancers starter Ella Thomas to make it 3-0.
“That was good for Addy,” Daughtry said. “She had been a little snakebitten early on, so for her to get some success like that, it was really positive. She is a big part of the lineup hitting in the No. 3 hole.”
Burrell collected four hits in the top of the sixth off Lancers reliever Laney Dineff and added two more runs on RBI hits from Sam Gregg and Novak.
Deer Lakes, which fell to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in section play, drew two walks off Novak, who struck out four. She didn’t allow a hit through three innings, but Riley Jones singled with one out in the fourth.
“We’ve been kind of easing her back in after missing most of last year,” Daughtry said. “We’re trying to not pound her with too many games early on. The weather kind of helped with that, unintentionally. But she just did a really nice job of keeping their batters off balance. She hit spots well and got a lot of soft contact, which is exactly how we want her to pitch.”
Deer Lakes tested Novak and the Bucs defense in several innings.
Novak hit Jones, and Ava Shea drew a walk to put two runners on with one out in the bottom of second, but Novak induced a pop out and a strikeout to end the early Lancers threat.
Molly Farster reached on an error with two outs in the third but was left stranded.
Jones’ single and Shea reaching on an error gave Deer Lakes life with two outs in the fourth. But Novak got Kaylee Pryor to pop out to end the inning.
A single from Joey Adams with two outs in the bottom of the sixth didn’t turn into runs.
“Novak is a very good pitcher, and she kind of kept us off balance in some important situations,” said Deer Lakes coach Paul Lagnese, who will lead his team into a home section matchup Monday against Ligonier Valley.
“We need to produce in those situations, and we just didn’t do that today. Our pitchers, in general, kept us in the game, but if you don’t score runs, you can’t win.
“I told the girls that we need to come back to practice Monday, refocus and then play the way we know we can. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”