Hempfield's Callie Sowers, Penn-Trafford's Emma Little lead Bloomsburg softball on improbable run

In 35 years in the dugout at Bloomsburg, coach Susan Kocher has seen a lot of softball. She has seen plenty of milestones, plenty of ups, plenty of downs.

But few of her experiences could match what her team did this spring. The Huskies had to win a game on the final weekend of the regular season just to get into the PSAC playoffs. Then, once they were there, they went on an improbable run to the championship game.

Spearheading the charge was a pair of Westmoreland County standouts who just happen to make up the battery for the Huskies: sophomore pitcher Callie Sowers (Hempfield) and catcher Emma Little (Penn-Trafford), also a sophomore. Both were all-conference performers (Sowers second-team All-PSAC East and Little first team), and they were at their best when Bloomsburg needed it most.

Entering the final two regular-season games — both against Millersville — the Huskies needed to win one to nab the fifth and final seed out of the PSAC East. The teams had split their first two games of the season.

In the first game, Bloomsburg was down 3-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh and looked to be headed for a do-or-die matchup in the nightcap. But the Huskies scored four times, with Little’s sacrifice fly providing the winning run. Sowers went the distance, giving up three earned runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts.

As a bonus, the Huskies also won Game 2, 10-7, thanks to a seven-run sixth inning. Little’s three-run homer broke a 7-7 tie. Her heroics were part of a season in which she hit .316 with five homers and a team-leading 40 RBIs.

“I think prior in the season, I think we always knew we were as good as everyone else,” Sowers said. “We were just late in figuring things out as a team.”

With a young roster, Bloomsburg was shaky early, particularly on offense. The Huskies often had trouble scoring runs, leading to several low-scoring, one-run losses. Witness their March 13 game against Tampa, the No. 1 Division II team in the nation as of May 7: Sowers scattered seven hits and gave up two earned runs, but the Huskies lost 2-1.

That, in part, contributed to Sowers posting a 17-15 record with an ERA (2.85) that was just 0.02 higher than her freshman season, when she went 18-9.

But Sowers said she owned part of her pedestrian win-loss record, too.

“I went through a little rough patch during the season where I couldn’t figure things out,” she said. “I was having problems finding the zone. … It was, honestly, so weird. I have never really experienced that in all my years of pitching.

“One day I literally could not find the zone. I think it was a mental thing. … I was just putting a lot of pressure on myself, and it was kind of eating me up. But I just took a deep breath, listened to what people told me and things started to turn around.”

Despite all of that, Little said she could see an improvement in Sowers. And Little would know. Counting travel ball, this was her fifth season catching for Sowers.

In addition to maintaining her sub 3.00 ERA, Sowers also upped her strikeout total from 185 in 183¹⁄₃ innings as a freshman to 259 in 209 innings this season.

“This year, I’m so used to catching her because we’ve grown up playing together,” Little said. “I just know how to frame her pitches. I know how they’re going to move. It looked like she was 10 times more confident.”

Added Sowers: “Emma is my best friend on and off the field. She knows me as a person and as a pitcher, so she’s not afraid to tell me what I’m doing wrong. If I am getting a little nervous or stressed or struggling on the mound, she knows exactly what to tell me.”

By the time the season headed for the home stretch, the Huskies seemed to work out their youthful kinks. They won four of their final six games to get into the PSAC Tournament, and that’s where the real fun began.

“I wish I knew the key because we could have started it sooner,” Kocher said. “I’ve been coaching a long time, and (this was) one of the most amazing stretches that I’ve ever been a part of. In my opinion, I thought we could have been doing that earlier on. … Maybe it was just our youngness that had us struggling and having so many one-run losses, close games that we just couldn’t pull out until, really, when things were on the line.”

In the PSAC opener against Cal (Pa.), Sowers struggled, but Little had two RBIs as the Huskies won a 13-7 slugfest.

Sowers bounced back in the next round against East top seed West Chester, coming on to throw four scoreless innings of relief in a 6-5, eight-inning win. Little, meanwhile, clubbed a three-run homer in the fourth inning that brought Bloomsburg close after facing a 4-0 deficit.

Defending PSAC champ Kutztown was the next victim as Sowers gave up no earned runs and struck out nine in a 5-3 victory. Little had two more RBIs.

Shippensburg, which ultimately would knock the Huskies out in the championship round, handed the Huskies their first loss in the double-elimination event. But Sowers was strong again, throwing 4 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings of relief.

A 3-1 victory over Mercyhurst in the next game sent the Huskies to the final against Shippensburg. Sowers went the distance, striking out seven, and Little had a sac fly to drive in a run.

“I just feel like we lost a lot of seniors from the year before, and people were filling roles,” Sowers said. “Our infield moved around a lot until we found set starters. … We were having trouble scoring runs in the beginning, but I feel like once we got the lineup right and people started to gain confidence in their spots, everything just started to come together.”

Best of all, most of the 2023 team will be back next spring, giving Sowers and Little high hopes that they can run through an entire season the way they did the final weeks of this one.

“I think we left things on a very good note, and I like how we were able to pull it together for the postseason because our regular season had some ups and downs,” Little said. “I think people need to realize, once we pulled it together, what did it show? We started to win.”