ERIE — When Erie pitcher Mariah Bledsoe gave up a two-run double — and the lead to opposing Valley — her father had seen enough. Her father is also the Tigers’ long-time coach, Bob Bledsoe, who had an earful for Mariah.
“I can’t repeat that to a public newspaper,” the elder Bledsoe said.
Can you paraphrase, coach?
” ‘What in the world are you doing?’ ” he said. “She missed so many pitches it would boggle your mind.”
Things between daughter and dad are once again rosy because top-ranked Erie came back to edge the No. 2 Vikings 6-5 in the Class 3A Patriot League finale. Erie again finished the season as league champs, while Valley slipped to third, behind Burlington.
Sure, Bob Bledsoe is a stickler for detail, but he’s earned that right. Erie has been in all 11 championship games since the classification was formed and won nine of them; the Tigers (17-1-1, 12-0) haven’t lost a league game in five seasons; and the younger Bledsoe usually is dominant.
The coach’s frustration wasn’t exclusively aimed at his daughter, as the Tigers were uncharacteristically sloppy on defense and fell behind 4-3 in the fifth when Ashley Ray hit a two-run double. But Erie turned the tables on Valley (14-4, 9-2) when the Vikings committed two errors with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.
The second miscue allowed the tying run to score, then shortstop Jordan Ruiz clubbed a decisive two-run triple to the left-center field alley.
“Whenever they score and you lose the lead, you always get worried,” said Ruiz, one of two Erie seniors. “But I have so much confidence in my team, and I knew we were going to come back and get the ‘W’.”
Valley got a sacrifice fly from Hope Asbury in the sixth to trim the deficit to 6-5, but Bledsoe pitched a 1-2-3 seventh and struck out the final two batters.
“I think now that we’ve seen what they got and they’ve seen what we got, it’s going to be a battle to the end,” Valley shortstop Haley Hutton said. “I think these teams are going to the championship game.”
Valley 101 021 0 — 5 7 2
Erie 201 030 x — 6 7 5
Valley (ab-r-h-rbi) — H. Hutton ss-p 4-2-2-0, Hubbard cf 3-1-1-0, Asbury c 3-0-0-1, T. Hutton p-ss 4-1-3-2, Odenbaugh 1b 3-1-0-0, Ray lf 3-0-1-2, Tapia 3b 4-0-0-0, Kawata rf 3-0-0-0, Mockerman 2b 3-0-0-0. Totals 30-5-7-5.
Erie — Ruiz ss 2-1-2-2, Bledsoe p 1-0-0-0, David 2b 4-0-1-0, Duran-Fong 3b 2-1-0-0, Kovac c 4-1-2-2, Maul 1b 3-0-2-0, Harmon lf 3-1-0-0, Wetsch cf 3-1-0-0, Gartrell rf 3-1-0-0. Totals 25-6-7-4.
E — H. Hutton, Tapia, Gartrell, Bledsoe, Maul, David, Fong. LOB — Valley 8, Erie 9. 2B — Ray, Ruiz, Kovac. 3B — Ruiz. HR — Kovac (solo in third). SB — T. Hutton 2, Odebaugh, Fong. SF — Asbury. SAC — Hubbard, Bledsoe 2. Batteries — T. Hutton, H. Hutton (6) and Asbury; Bledsoe and Kovac. W — Bledsoe. L — T. Hutton. T — 2:01.
