It was no surprise when the two teams — Punxsy and St. Marys' Major League All-Stars in softball — were matched against each other in Thursday's winners' bracket final. Now, Punxsy will now have to battle back through the knockout round finals, as the hosting St. Marys squad picked up a 5-2 victory in Round 1 on Thursday at Benzinger Park.
For St. Marys, Kara Hansloven was perfect through the first three innings in the pitcher's circle, while her team built her a five-run lead with one in the first and four more in the third. Punxsy started to get onto the Hansloven pitching in its second trip through the order, but managed only two runs on five hits in the final three frames.
Kaylee Guidice led the offense for Punxsy with a pair of singles, while Ciara Toven had an RBI single, and Brooke Skarbek and Chloe Presloid each added one hit.
St. Marys' offense was led by Emily Mourer, who had a bases-clearing, three-RBI double, and Shannon Kaiser, who had a pair of hits and reached a third time on a walk out of the leadoff spot. Hanslovan and Sydney Alexander each added an RBI single, and Izzy Catalone, Lydia Anderson, Mya Pistner and Gianna Surra each singled to round out a nine-hit night for their team.
Punxsy's pitching was split between Toven and Presloid, who each worked three frames. Toven started the game and was charged with five runs on four hits and five walks, while fanning three. Presloid came on in relief to pitch three shutout innings, allowing five hits but not walking any.
Punxsy will now play DuBois (which handily defeated Brookville on Thursday night) in Saturday's knockout round finals. That game will be played at 4 p.m. on Saturday in DuBois. In the first meeting between the two teams in the tournament's first round, Punxsy earned an 11-0, four-inning win.