Tami Kilousky comes one out away from throwing a perfect game to lead Kutztown past Bellefonte for its third PIAA Class AA championship. By Brian Rippey Eagle/Times

SHIPPENSBURG It was almost a perfect ending to a near-perfect season. Almost. Kutztown junior Tami Kilousky came within one out of pitching a perfect game to help the Cougars win their third state title with a 4-0 win over Bellefonte Friday afternoon at Shippensburg in the PIAA Class AA championship game. In one of the most dominating pitching performances in state championship history, Kilousky struck out 11 and didn't allow Bellefonte to hit a ball out of the infield until Kayleen Sidisky hit a two-out double to right-center in the seventh. “They told me I was pitching a perfect game, it was running through my mind and I'm little disappointed,” Kilousky said. “But you know what, we're state champions, what else can I say?” The Cougars (26-4) got to be state champs for the second time in six years by scoring all their runs in the sixth inning. Lindsay Straub started the rally with a single off losing pitcher Laura Caldwell, who held Kutztown to a first-inning bunt single by Megan Conrad through five innings. “We weren't hitting good and I just wanted to start it off,” said Straub, one of six Kutztown seniors who accepted the championship trophy. “I knew they'd follow me. I'm so glad I started it.” Keri Overcast followed Straub's hit by reaching on an error on a sacrifice bunt. After Jessica Schmoyer advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt, Conrad Kutztown's hottest hitter was intentionally walked. That loaded the bases for freshman Nichole Neustadter, the Cougars' RBI leader. She delivered a solid single to center to score pinch-runner Jamie Bricker with the only run Kilousky needed to help Kutztown finish with its 14th straight win. “I saw they were intentionally walking Megan and I knew this was the time to do it,” Neustadter said. “I just swung my hardest, and it ended up driving in a run and I knew from there we were going to have a lot of hits. “We're a team where once we get one hit, we all start getting hits. It's like a chain reaction.” The Cougars got just three hits in the sixth, but the Red Raiders (20-7) contributed to the avalanche. Overcast scored on a wild pitch, Conrad scored on a squeeze bunt by Shaylon Claypoole and Ashley Billig capped the rally with a solid RBI single to right-center. “When we got the four runs in the sixth inning, it just made everything so much easier,” Kilousky said. Things looked pretty easy for Kilousky through six innings. After giving up two first-inning runs and striking out only two in Monday's 3-2 Eastern final win over Northern Lehigh, Kilousky rebounded with one of her best games. “I was feeling a lot better and I felt really strong and really pumped,” Kilousky said. “That had to be the difference, that and the blue hair.” Several Kutztown players put blue color in their hair for team unity. But assistant coach Dick Angstadt, who was celebrating his 56th birthday, said hair color had nothing to do with Kilousky's dominance. “She got ahead of the hitters much better today,” Angstadt said. “She couldn't throw the pitches she wanted to throw in some situations Monday because of the count. Today, we could pretty much throw what we wanted to because she was ahead of the hitters all the time. When she can do that she's a dominating pitcher.” Kilousky, who usually keeps the ball low, had success getting Bellefonte to chase her high riser. She struck out nine of the first 15 hitters before the Red Raiders became a little more selective. “If they would have hit that high pitch better, we would have gone to the drop more,” Angstadt said. “Tami has the ability to pitch to her opponent's weakness.” After being staked to a four-run lead, Kilousky went right after the Red Raiders. She struck out the first two hitters in the seventh before Sidisky's double denied Kilousky her third career no-hitter. But when Kyli Krape popped out to Neustadter at third for the final out, Kilousky and her teammates were celebrating something even more rare. “No-hitters are OK,” Kilousky said. “But winning a state championship, that's even better.”

NOTE: Dick Angstadt is a life long resident of Lyons.