By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
SCRANTON – North Pocono’s Julie Schriver did not allow an earned run over four innings of relief while helping a team of recent Lackawanna League graduates post a 5-3 victory over a team of Wyoming Valley Conference players in a senior softball all-star game Friday night at Connell Park.
Schriver was selected as her team’s Most Valuable Player while Tori Para from Pittston Area received that honor from the WVC team.
The second annual inter-league, all-star battle was organized by 570 Sports Show. It had a delayed start after rain shortened the first half of the doubleheader, a baseball all-star game made up entirely of players from Lackawanna League teams.
Schriver held the WVC scoreless on one hit through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Para led off with a single and scored on an error in the seventh when the WVC managed two hits and put the tying runners in scoring position. Schriver, who walked one and struck out four, escaped the jam by fielding a simple groundball and running it toward first base before making the short flip for the final out.
Schriver, who struck out more than 100 batters for North Pocono’s Lackawanna Division 2 champions, also drove in the tying run with a groundout in the bottom of the third inning in her only at-bat.
Para, one of the driving forces behind Pittston Area’s unbeaten, Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state Class 5A champions, earned her second all-star game MVP award in eight days by going 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs and an RBI. She was the MVP of the losing East team in the Dallas Kiwanis Club’s Robert Dolbear Senior All-Star Game for WVC players.
West Scranton’s E.J. Dougher coached the winning team with assistance from several other coaches from around the Lackawanna League.
Pittston Area’s Frank Parente and his staff led the WVC team, which played shorthanded with just eight available players, half of them from the Lady Patriots.
The WVC went with an eight-player batting order and borrowed a right fielder, rotated from the deep Lackawanna bench, each inning. Pittston Area center fielder Sage Weidlich crashed into the fence pursuing a flyball in the fourth inning and was removed from the game for precautionary reasons.
The WVC finished up with seven players and help from two outfielders from the Lackawanna.
Crestwood’s Jessica Koptcho pitched well, starting and ending the game for the WVC. She allowed just one unearned run on two hits in four innings. She walked two and struck out four.
Kaci Kranson from Holy Cross worked out one of those walks, leading off the second inning. She stole second base, allowing her to score the game’s first run on a two-out error.
The WVC took its only lead in the top of the third on back-to-back homers by Para and Lake-Lehman’s Jillian Ulozas. Para’s shot cleared the fence easily in left-center and Ulozas lofted a high blast that made it out in straightaway center.
The Lackawanna League tied the game in the bottom of the third.
Annabelle Gumble from Lackawanna Trail was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Savannah Slater from North Pocono singled to center field.
Schriver’s groundout scored Gumble with the tying run. Dunmore’s Emma Conte singled to center with two out, but Weidlich’s strong throw home ended the game, keeping the Lackawanna League from moving in front.
The Lackawanna League won the game with three runs in the fourth.
Maria Belardi from Scranton Prep started it with a single. She was retired when West Scranton’s Tori Herne grounded into a fielder’s choice.
Valley View’s Anna Sebastianelli drew a one-out walk and both runners moved up on a wild pitch.
Priscilla Grill from Holy Cross drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.
Lackawanna Trail’s Lilian Rejrat doubled to center field, driving in a run on the play that knocked Weidlich out of the game.
Abby Yevitz, the starting pitcher from Scranton, followed with another RBI double.
Jenna Santuk from Holy Redeemer went 3-for-4 for the WVC, including two of the three hits against Schriver.
