Three double plays in one game were enough for a Central Dauphin softball team to hold off a Red Land squad that brought its 'A' game on Monday.
Those defensive gems squelched a trio of Red Land rallies that prevented the Patriots from winning a game they could have and enabled the Rams to win a game they should have.
It was anything but easy, however, as the Rams (12-5) stoked their rising Class AAAA power rating while at the same time forcing Red Land (8-8) to pick up a win or two over State College, Mifflin County and CD East this week to stay above that postseason playoff cutoff line.
"Those double plays just kept us in the game,'' CD coach Ken Williams said. "I thought the way we executed early kept us in the game. Double plays are rare ... three in one game.''
Freshman Madi Christiansen, who was 3-for-3 in five at-bats, scored in the first inning after she walked, pitcher Maggie Hahn singled and Alissa Robinson put down a swinging bunt toward second base.
CD took the lead in the third when Katie Foran and Alexis Hess singled and Rosa Veliky smoked a single to center to score Foran. Bre Hopkins was part of a game in which CD executed fundamentals very well as her bunt pushed in Hess who was virtually unstoppable with a 4-for-5 performance.
With one out and the bases loaded in Red Land's third, Brittany Carroll hit a soft liner back to CD pitcher Amanda Homrighausen (9-3) who fired to first for the first double play.
Mary Nell Smith scored CD's third run in the fourth on Renee Foster's single before Red Land's Ashley Carroll beat out a bunt in the Patriots' fourth and scored on Christiansen's double. Hahn grounded to CD's Halley Rose at shortstop and held Christiansen at third before getting the out.
But Christiansen broke for home and CD first basemen Macy Koontz threw a low strike to Veliky, who expertly blocked the plate and tagged out Christiansen for double play No. 2.
With CD up 4-2 after Hopkins was driven in by Rose in the fifth, the most damaging "what-if" double play occurred in the Patriots' sixth. Miranda Zehring reached on an error, Ashley Carroll beat out another bunt and CD's Homrighausen pitched around Red Land's Christiansen to load the bases with one out.
Hahn crushed a line drive but it, too, was back at Homrighausen who snagged it and caught Zehring off of third base to end the threat.
"We probably left a dozen runners on tonight and that hurts, especially when you're playing a team the quality of Central Dauphin,'' said Red Land coach Jason Munns.
Despite what transpired, Red Land forced the game into extra innings by tallying twice in the seventh to knot it at 4 apiece. Robinson single and Reaghan Gettys doubled before Cassidy Camplese hit a fly in the right-center gap that CD's Alexis Hess ran down but couldn't keep it in her glove. Zehring's single tied it.
CD had all the answers all game long and Foster banged her third hit of the game in the eighth. Foran also dropped one into the outfield but Foster was forced at second. Hess followed with her fourth hit and Veliky with her second to allow Foran to cross the plate with the eventual game-winning run.
"We've done that all year long,'' Williams said about CD's penchant to rally. "They know they can't relax. With the young team we have we have to keep pressing on the bases, at the plate and keep putting pressure on other teams whether we're ahead or whether we're behind. That's just the nature of this team.''
Homrighausen again tried to pitch around Christiansen in the eighth but she still was able to line a double into the left-center gap. But a third-(Foran)-to-first (Koontz) ground out, a little foul flare snagged by a diving Foran and a foul pop caught by Koontz with her glove at the top of the fence stopped the Patriots.
"I think it was a well-played game all around,'' Munns said. "We hit the ball, we did everything we needed to do and that's why they make us play them. I thought it was a good game.
"We're taking a lot of confidence out of (this game) and we're moving on to State College, Mifflin County and CD East yet this week. I think the momentum we had in this game, especially late in the game, is going to carry over into this week. We're just gonna keep playing our ball.''