SCRANTON – The Old Forge program was prominent and a Greater Pittston resident was on the winning team June 23 when the first Field of Dreams Softball All-Star Game was played at the University of Scranton’s Magis Field.
The senior all-star game for Lackawanna League players was presented by Lackawanna County and the Lackawanna County Visitors’ Bureau. It benefited the Bill Howerton StrikeOut Cancer Fund.
Pat Revello from Old Forge coached the Small School team and had players from his Lady Devils in the first three spots in the batting order.
Scranton Prep center fielder Lauren Cawley was in the starting lineup for the Big School, which won 9-8 in eight innings.
Cawley, a Greater Pittston resident, was 0-for-2 with a walk from the sixth spot in the order.
Catcher Denise Evans, second baseman Nia Zimmerman and pitcher Corianne Holzman from Old Forge batted in the first three spots for the Small School team.
While Zimmerman went 1-for-3, both Evans and Holzman were 0-for-4 at the plate.
Zimmerman singled in the bottom of the seventh for one of only two Small School hits off of Wallenpaupack’s Madison Schmalzle, the Big School Most Valuable Player. Schmalzle was the winning pitcher with four scoreless innings.
The Small School took an 8-3 lead through four innings.
Holzman pitched the first two innings, giving up two unearned runs in the top of the first and working a scoreless second. She allowed two hits and a walk while striking out two before being replaced by Blue Ridge’s Danielle Goff.
Goff wound up being named Small School MVP. She had an RBI double and struck out seven in six innings.
Building the five-run lead kicked in one of the game’s many special rules, allowing the Big School to start the fifth inning with a runner on second base and begin its comeback with three runs. It was one of many rules designed to assure the game remained competitive.
“I think it all made the game fun – no bunting, no stealing – made it more interesting,” Goff said.
Some rules were unclear, including under which exceptions teams were able to steal third base and home, and what to do about a tie.
After a brief hesitation, the teams went back out onto the field under the International Tiebreaker Rule that places a runner on second and that runner for the Big School team scored the winning run.
The seventh annual Field of Dreams for baseball is a doubleheader between the Wyoming Valley Conference and Lackawanna League with separate Big School and Small School games. After being rained out earlier, it is set for Sunday at PNC Field in Moosic, with the Big Schools at 1:30 p.m. and the Small Schools at 4.
