Rebellion squeeze out rare home win
With a large ice bag wrapped around her right knee and a bruise on her left knee from being hit by a pitch, Rebellion shortstop Whitney Arion walked slowly from the home dugout and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
The image sums up the Pennsylvania Rebellion’s season perfectly.
The franchise’s tough luck began when its top draft pick, left-handed pitcher Miranda Kramer, was diagnosed with an inflamed arm and was forced to miss almost two months with an inflamed pitching arm.
Another draft pick, Oklahoma State outfielder Shelby Davis, decided not to play for the Rebellion. Then, promising Japanese shortstop Yuri Masuyama left the team after breaking her ankle.
“I hate to call it bad luck, but that’s kind of how the season has gone,” Rebellion manager Craig Montvidas said. “We’ve lost a third of our games by one run.”
For the first time in, well, a long time, luck was on their side Monday night at Consol Energy Park. With two strikes in the bottom of the 10th inning, Arion laid down a one-out suicide squeeze bunt to score Courtney Senas from third base for a walk-off, 3-2 victory over the Dallas Charge.
The Rebellion (6-23) snapped a 13-game losing streak, a 31-inning scoreless streak, won their first extra-inning game this season and earned just their second victory at home in 2015.
Arion, who went 2-for-2 with two RBI, capitalized on an opportunity after missing one in the eighth inning.
The former Louisville Cardinal was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Rebellion first baseman Alisa Goler drove a 1-1 rising fastball into the gap in right-center field, but Arion hesitated.
She slightly hesitated leaving second base and Charge right fielder Brianna Cherry’s throw beat Arion to home plate. Arion was caught in a run down while Goler advanced to third, and Dallas pitcher Lauren Haeger got Kristyn Sandberg to fly out to end the inning.
“I was thinking to myself that we really needed a run and that was our opportunity,” Arion said. “I decided to put on the breaks (near home plate) because I thought I was burned. Part of me wishes I would have plowed the catcher over. You never know – she could have dropped the ball.”
It looked like another crushing mistake for a franchise toiling at the bottom of the five-team league’s standings. The pitching of Emma Johnson and Arion’s composure changed that.
Johnson, who relieved Kramer in the fifth inning, earned her second win by throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings, while allowing only one hit and strikout out four.
With the international tie-breaker in effect for the 10th inning, Senas took second base and was sacrificed to third. Arion first two bunt attempts went foul before she successfully laid down her third squeeze attempt.
“You have to do what you have to do to win,” Motvidas said. “I told the team the first day I took over that it doesn’t matter if your opponent is bigger, faster or stronger. You have to get the job done and we did that. The squeeze is a gamble. If it works you look great. If not, you either strike out or hit into a double play and they send you back to Toledo.”
Pennsylvania did not record a hit until the fourth inning when first baseman Alisa Goler had a one-out single to right field.
The Rebellion finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth inning. Designated hitter Mandy Ogle hit a line drive down the left field line for a double and pinch-runner Cheyenne Cordes advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt.
Two pitches later, centerfielder Courtney Senas laid down a sacrifice bunt that snuck past Dallas first baseman Ashley Burkhardt. Charge second baseman Taylor Thom grabbed the slow roller, but Cordes scored to break the Rebellion’s scoreless streak and draw them to within one run.
Senas, who took second on the play, was sacrificed to third base and Pennsylvania shortstop Whitney Arion drove her in, tying the score, 2-2.
Johnson took care of the rest. Though the Rebellion own the lowest batting average in the league, their pitching staff has been steady with a 3.37 ERA.
“This group has been awesome,” Montvidas said. “There has never been any bickering and that says something.
“Hopefully this is a confidence boost for us.”