COLUMBIA TWP. — The pitcher is a fill-in who has been No. 2 among Columbia’s pitchers. She was on the junior varsity a year ago.
The third baseman used to be the No. 2 catcher and has been playing her new position for all of two weeks. But she recorded six assists, an unusually high number for a third baseman.
The left fielder made two highlight-film catches in the sixth inning and drove home the eventual winning run with a fifth-inning single.
And Columbia’s sophomore first baseman — who scored the winner — hit a single, double and triple in three at-bats.
That, in a nutshell, is how the Raiders produced a 2-1 victory over Wellington on Monday in a battle of Patriot Athletic Conference rivals ranked in the Division III top 10 statewide. Columbia is ranked seventh in the state, while Wellington is tied for ninth.
The Raiders (14-3, 4-0) face another big PAC test this afternoon when they travel to Keystone. The Wildcats, who are also undefeated in the conference, were ranked first in Division II last week and 17th nationwide in the USA Today-National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll.
Junior Kristen Minarchick became the Raiders’ No. 1 pitcher when Jen Solanics suffered a sore shoulder nine games ago.
Throwing an effective dropball, she scattered five Wellington hits and surrendered just one run after the Dukes loaded the bases with one out in the seventh. She ended the game with a force out at second and an infield fly.
“I wasn’t expecting to get this much pitching time, but I’m getting a lot of practice and getting better as I go,” Minarchick said after posting her eighth win in nine decisions. “I didn’t see myself in this position at the beginning of the year, but now that I’ve handled it, it feels very nice.”
Coach Ken Richardson was delighted with her work.
“She hit her locations and she focused on hitting those spots,” Richardson said. “To her credit, last year she was not on our varsity team because she said, ‘I want to pitch,’ and I said, ‘If you want to pitch you have to stay with the JV.’ We not only had Jen (Solanics), we had Sarah Petrus and Brittany Dengler. So she pitched for our JV last year and that has paid off huge dividends.”
Columbia took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when catcher Emily Nagle singled and second baseman Christa Wodarczyk hit a one-out triple to right field. That scored Sarah Viccarone, who was running for Nagle.
“I hit it on the sweet spot,” said Wodarczyk, who had two of the Raiders’ nine hits. “The first time at bat, I didn’t do too well, so I had to calm myself down and get back in there. That time I was ready for the pitcher. I just remember it was right down the middle. Fastball.”
Sophomore first baseman Jenny Kus, who had doubled and singled in her first two at-bats, blasted a 1-2 pitch for a triple with two outs in the fifth.
“It felt good to finally get in a rhythm again,” Kus said. “I just wanted to watch that outside corner, because she (Dukes pitcher Cassie Gleisner) was pitching really great tonight.”
Kus scored Melissa Ruminski followed with a single to left.
“I crowded the plate like coach told me to and I hit an outside pitch finally,” Ruminski said. “I was having a hard time with that.”
Ruminski, by the way, was the Columbia left fielder who made all three putouts in the Wellington sixth. Two of them came after long runs, the first one at full speed with her back to the infield. And Daisy Krokos was the third baseman with six assists.
“At first I wasn’t even aware that I was going back so far,” she said her first catch, a blast off the bat of Dukes catcher Melissa Rennie. “But I just kept going, I just kept running. I didn’t think I would, but I caught it.”
In the seventh, Wellington (13-5, 3-2 PAC) loaded the bases with one out on consecutive singles by Megan Auble, Courtney Echstenkamper and Morgan Brasee. Maddison Pickworth, running for Auble, scored on the force out at second. Brasee had two hits for the Dukes, who left the bases loaded in the third.

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