Hitters serve notice that they are up to challenge against softball aces

Longtime New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel said it best: Good pitching will always stop good hitting. And vice-versa.

He was referring to baseball, but it works for fastpitch softball as well. It's always an interesting matchup when a tough pitcher faces a good hitting team.

On Tuesday, New Oxford's bats were more than up to the task against Central York's Ava Beamesderfer, coming out with a 7-3 nondivisional win.

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"Our coaches are really good about getting us batting practice and definitely hitting faster pitches during practice," New Oxford first baseman Bella Arnold said about preparing for the Central York ace. "We hit off our pitching machines at school, and they jacked it up real high."

It worked.

Arnold had two of her team's nine hits, drove in four runs and had the only extra-base hit of the game, a 2-RBI double. She also scored the game's first run after reaching on a Central error.

New Oxford coach Jason Miller knew his team could hit the long ball, but it was the small-ball game that won it for the Colonials on Tuesday.

"I think we were more aggressive," he said. "We didn't really get behind in the counts and we knew the zones we wanted to be in. So when the count went to 2-1, 3-1, we were getting our kind of pitches. I told them before the game that we know how good Ava is, so we have to make them think early on that we are in this game."

How good is Beamesderfer? The senior has been the Division I Pitcher of the Year for the past two seasons. It might have been three times, but they didn't have a season in her freshman year because of COVID. She went 20-1 last season with a 1.76 ERA and 161 strikeouts in 119 innings.

She is headed to Appalachian State to play Division I softball.

But this is a new year, and Tuesday was the Panthers' first game, so it makes sense that there was a little rust on the ace's arm.

Beamesderfer walked the first batter she faced on four straight balls. She fell behind in the count to the second batter, who reached on an error. A fielder's choice put runners at first and third with one out, but she struck out the last two batters to retire the side.

It was the last clean inning she had until the fifth, but by then the Colonials were up 7-0 on the defending league champs.

"I think when the freshman [Aaralyn Smith] had the hit that put us up 1-0 in the second inning, it was contagious," Miller said. "Once one thing happens that good, it's like, 'OK, the freshmen are out here hitting, we can, too.' And then it kind of opened up."

The Colonials had back-to-back three-run innings to give them all the runs they needed for the win.

They put together singles from Lehigh and Leah Noel, a walk to Cora Diviney, one hit batter and Arnold's double to put the first three-spot on the board.

The second came on singles by Bailey Moser, Hannah Becker, Diviney and Arnold.

The fourth inning was the end of New Oxford's bats. Beamesderfer set them up for fly balls and the Panthers' defense made the catches to send the Colonials down in order for the last three innings.

While Beamesderfer was struggling on the mound, New Oxford's Emily Adams found the going much easier, except for the sixth inning when Claire Bohannon brought in two of the Panthers' three runs with a single.

Both pitchers gave up nine runs in the outing. Unlike New Oxford, Central couldn't string their hits together to get anything going outside of the sixth inning. Adams didn't get any strikeouts compared to Beamesderfer's six, but she only gave up one free pass. The Central ace walked three and hit one.

"I said before the season that we would go as far as our pitching takes us," Miller said. "[Emily] throws slow, and other teams, it's almost comical 'oh, oh, oh, she throws slow,' but then they don't hit her. They are used to it, so they have to wait and they have to change their usual approaches. And our defense is really solid, so if they hit the ball, our defense is going to chase them down and make the plays."

That's exactly what happened. No one in Central's lineup had multiple hits. A tight defense that kept the ball in front limited the Panthers to singles. Several diving catches robbed Central players of apparent hits.

Unlike previous years when Central and New Oxford were in the same division and met twice a season, this was the only scheduled meeting between the teams. Central remains in Division I, while New Oxford has moved to Division II.

"This win was really big for us," Arnold said. "It's the first time we've beaten them in at least four years, I think."

Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA through the York Daily Record. Connect with her by email, mstallsmith@ydr.com, or on Twitter: @ShelStallsmith.