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Bellwood-Antis saw its up and down season come to a conclusion yesterday in a district 6 2A quarterfinal loss to undefeated, top seeded Conemaugh Valley, which has now won 19 in a row.

CV was led by Pitcher Melanie Lint, who allowed three hits, one run, and struck out 11 blue devils in the process.

It is always tough to win a game when you have more errors than runs, especially against a quality team like Conemaugh Valley, which is exactly what B-A did in this one as they had four errors to their three hits and were only able to muster up one run in the top of the 6^th inning and weren’t able to register their first hit until the top of the fourth, when starting freshman pitcher Haley Schmidt was able to get one of her two hits of the game.

After a sloppy second inning in the field Bellwood-antis surrendered seven runs in the frame and this was ultimately enough for Lint and Lady Jay’s coast to a 9-1 victory.

“We played one bad inning. Other wise the score is different from the result we got,” said B-A coach Jim Payne.

Although ending the season on a disappointing note, the team has a lot to look forward to as next year’s team will be returning a lot of contributors from this year’s 10-10 season, and the experience from this season should help the blue devils in the long run.

The early exit marks the first time in several years the team hasn’t competed for a District crown. B-A won the Class AAA title in 2015 and went to the District championship a year ago. But with many starters graduated the Devils relied heavily on freshman, three of whom started.

“Playing in a District game did not seem possible after our 0-5 start, but the kids adjusted, changed, and worked harder,” said Coach Payne. “Conemaugh Valley was a senior heavy team that has a recent history of success, so playing them was a good measuring tool for our growth.”