Stroudsburg sails past Pocono East – Pocono Record

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SWIFTWATER — Stroudsburg coach Maynard Frantz could not have asked for a better performance from his team.

Frantz’s offense was potent, his baserunners were aggressive, his defense was flawless and his pitcher was perfect in the Mounties’ 20-0 victory over Pocono Mountain East in Mountain Valley Conference softball action Tuesday.

The Mounties (5-2, 3-0 MVC) were coming off a 10-7 loss to Honesdale on Saturday, a game in which they committed eight errors. Frantz spent much of Monday’s practice focused on shoring up his defense and the results paid off against the Cardinals (1-4, 1-1), who put the ball in play 10 times with nothing to show for it.

“We have to make sure that we can play good defense,” Frantz said. “(Monday) we had a good practice and worked more on defense than we did our hitting. I just told the girls they need to relax out there. We’re going to make mistakes, but it’s the mental mistakes that have gotten us so (Monday) we worked on our fundamentals and situations and things we need to do to keep us competitive.”

Stroudsburg senior Madi Liedberg gave her defense plenty of opportunities.

The right-hander threw four perfect innings, mixing in a pair of strikeouts with seven ground balls and two fly outs.

“You’re not going to strike everyone out,” Liedberg said. “The name of the game is for the hitter to get up and for them to hit the ball and my defense got the job done.”

Liedberg also got the job done, too.

The senior needed just 34 pitches to record 12 outs and she pounded the strike zone over and over. Liedberg threw just seven balls and ran just one two-ball count.

“As Madi goes we go right now,” Frantz said. “That seems to be the scenario. Madi had really been pitching well for us and she’s come out and kept us in every game so far. That’s all you ask for and she’s really stepped up this year.”

Stroudsburg’s offense was just as good.

The Mounties put four runs on the board in the second inning thanks to a two-run single from Emily Kress and an RBI triple by Kat Liedberg, who scored the fourth run on a wild pitch.

Stroudsburg broke it open in the fourth, scoring 16 times while sending 20 hitters to the plate. Kat Liedberg finished a homer shy of the cycle in the inning alone and drove in four runs. Sarah Canfield had an RBI single and double, Madison Pizzo stroked a three-run triple and Madi Liedberg drove in two runs.

“We really tried to be aggressive and get every inch that we could,” said Kat Liedberg, who went 4-for-4 with a double, two triples, four runs scored and two stolen bases. “We picked each other up and every time someone got a hit it motivated everyone else.”

Stroudsburg 20, PM East 0

Stroudsburg 040 (16) — 20 12 0

PM East 000 0 — 0 0 4

S, Madi Liedberg and Kayla Kern; PME, Alyssa Beyers, Theresa Smith (4) and Kaylee Braithwaite.

W — Liedberg. L — Beyers.

SO-BB — S, Liedberg 2-0; PME, Beyers 4-5, Smith 1-5.

2B — S, Kat Liedberg, Sarah Canfield. 3B — S, Kat Liedberg 2, Madison Pizzo.

Records — Stroudsburg 5-2, 3-0 MVC; PM East 1-4, 1-1.