Apr 10, 2023 4 min read

BURGETTSTOWN – Julia Jastrzebski had been brilliant all afternoon, but she couldn’t do it alone.

With one out and one on in the top of the seventh, Jastrzebski and the Burgettstown softball team led Charleroi 2-1 in a key Class 2A Section 1 game.

Charleroi’s Lyla Brunner hit a hard ground ball that went under Burgettstown shortstop Raya Sentipal’s glove.

Burgettstown center fielder Peyton Mermon – who had already had a big day, scoring both the team’s runs – had to act fast and field the ball.

Charleroi coach Trey Tilghman called for runner Rece Eddy to stop at second base. This would have put runners at first and second with one out and the top of Charleroi’s order coming up, with the chance to tie the game if not take the lead.

Instead, Eddy tried to go to third, and Burgettstown third baseman Payton Gratchen got ready for the throw.

As soon as Mermon threw the ball, she knew it was on the money.

“I knew it was a good throw,” she said. “I was really excited. I like hit the ground and everything. I was pumped.”

Gratchen knew the throw was on point, too. All she had to do was catch it and make the tag, which she did.

“Peyton had a dime of a throw to me,” Gratchen said. “Honestly, she was out by a mile.”

After the second out, Jastrzebski finished off a wonderful performance by getting Charleroi’s Leena Henderson to ground out.

She deserved to come out with a win, and the Peyton-to-Payton connection helped seal it.

“My mind went crazy, honestly (on that play),” Jastrzebski said. “But, I mean, I saw that throw, and I knew we had her dead out. So, it was amazing.”

“Amazing” seems to be a good word to describe what Jastrzebski’s teammates and coach think of her.

She finished the afternoon with just one run allowed on five hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts.

“I love her,” Gratchen said. “She’s my favorite pitcher ever. I love her.”

“She’s a queen,” Mermon said.

“She’s so underrated, isn’t she?” Burgettstown coach Mark Deer said. “She pitched a heck of a ballgame today.”

Charleroi’s Sofia Celaschi pitched her heart out, too. She went all six innings and gave up just two runs – one earned, on three hits, walking two and striking out 13.

But Charleroi’s offense didn’t do Celaschi many favors. Despite coming into the game averaging more than 10 runs, Charleroi only scored one Monday, and Tilghman doesn’t know why.

“I thought we’d hit the ball a little better than we did,” Tilghman said. “Our timing must be off, or the way (Jastrzebski) was throwing the ball, I don’t understand it. But we didn’t hit the ball at all.”

Burgettstown drew first blood in its first at-bat. Leadoff hitter Mermon reached on an infield single to start the inning, then stole second base. She came home two batters later on a single by Layla Sherman.

Charleroi tied the game in the top of the third on an RBI single by Riley Jones, which scored Eddy. Burgettstown got the lead back in its half of the third the same way it first took the lead: Sherman driving in Mermon with a single. Sherman finished 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Burgettstown got its hits when it needed to, but Jastrzebski was the star of the show.

After the game, she was quick to credit her teammates.

“The defense really had my back today,” she said. “It was streaky at times, but we definitely got the job done.

With the win, Burgettstown is now 3-0 in Class 2A Section 3 and 6-2 overall. Charleroi is 1-1 in the section and 6-1 overall.

Burgettstown is tied with OLSH atop the section, and the goal, of course, is to win it. The Blue Devils will look to keep it back at home against Bentworth Wednesday.

Charleroi looks to get back on track Wednesday at home against Washington.

Gratchen and her teammates know that more performances like Monday’s will be required for Burgettstown to reach its goal of a conference championship.

“We’re determined to win the section,” she said. “So we have to keep playing like that to win the section.”