CLARION, Pa. – Over the next few weeks D9Sports.com’s Chris Rossetti we will take a look at his the Top 25 stories that impacted District 9 during the 2018-19 school year.
(Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)
NO. 24 – WRUBLE’S CLUTCH AB KEEPS DCC DREAM ALIVE
Going into the 2019 season, the goal of the DuBois Central Catholic softball team was to reach the PIAA Class 1A title game.
And after a dominating regular season followed by a dominating run through the District 9 playoffs, the Lady Cardinals seemed in good shape following a 14-4, six-inning win over Leechburg in the opening round of the PIAA tournament.
Waiting in the quarterfinals was Claysburg-Kimmel, a team DCC lost to in the same round in 2018.
And it looked like history was going to repeat itself when the Lady Bulldogs took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Despite DCC getting two runners in scoring position, things looked bleak when that June 6 day at Mt. Aloysius College when the Lady Bulldogs Oliva Bushore got ahead of Ashley Wruble no ball and two strikes.
But Wruble, showing why she ended up being named the D9Sports.com District 9 Softball MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, shortened up her approach and poked a single over the second-base bag that scored both Jordy Kosko and Shyanne Lundy, the later from second base, to tie the game at five.
Freshman Avery Sickeri then won the game in the bottom of the ninth with a single, and DCC was able to win the game and eventual end up in the PIAA title game, finishing second in the state.
But none of that would have been possible without Wruble’s hit, perhaps the biggest hit in DCC softball history.
ROSSETTI’S TOP 25 MOST IMPACTFUL HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS STORIES FROM 2018-19 SCHOOL YEAR
24. Wruble’s Clutch Hit
25. Ella Marconi’s terrific season caps terrific career
Fall Sports
Rocky Grove and Lakeview Team Up for Mason
