Jun 13, 2015 4 min read

UNIVERSITY PARK – The PIAA Class AAA softball championship game Friday night between Trinity and Bethlehem Catholic can best be described, not by what happened on the field from the first through seventh innings, but by what transpired after the game.

Sure, Trinity was unable to win the school’s first outright PIAA championship in any sport, losing a well-played and rain-plagued 2-0 game on Beard Field at Nittany Lions Softball Park. As Trinity head coach Shawn Gray said, the Hillers simply were beaten by a team that was better than them on that night and got two clutch hits with runners in scoring position, something Trinity was unable to produce.

There is no disgrace in losing a game at the end of what was a magical season. The Hillers apparently sensed that amid the postgame disappointment. There were only a few tears, trembling lips and hugs. The smiles outnumbered the tears.

After the players had been introduced to the crowd and the last medal and trophy awarded, the Hillers’ players, standing shoulder to shoulder along the first-base line, faced the Trinity fans in the stands – most of them had waited out a 96-minute rain delay in the sixth inning and remained for the medals ceremony – and gave them something memorable.

The players, holding hands raised high, sang the Trinity alma mater.

“We pledge our loyalty. Three cheers blue and white …”

It was unexpected but caught everybody’s attention.

“That was for the seniors, to give them something memorable,” explained senior shortstop Olivia Gray. “That’s something we do, win or lose, on the bus after every game, and we thought it would be nice to do for the seniors’ last game and do it in front of fans and friends. From that aspect, it was a last hurrah for the seniors.”

It wasn’t their final act. After the alma mater, the Hillers chanted in unison, “It’s a great day to be a Hiller,” several times.

The scene was definitely unique. There have been too many teams and sore-loser players over the years who have thrown down their second-place medals, left the runner-up trophy on the ground because it wasn’t the winner’s trophy, or simply walked away while the opponent received its championship medals.

Trinity, however, seemed to be ecstatic to be in the state title game and determined to soak in every moment, win or lose.

As one veteran photographer who was shooting the title game said, “That’s the happiest team that ever lost a state championship game.”

That’s probably because the Hillers weren’t expected to be here. There was a time late in the regular season when Trinity lost three out of four games and needed a win over Thomas Jefferson, a team that had knocked them out of the WPIAL playoffs last year and upset them early this season, just to secure a postseason berth.

Once there, Trinity played some of its best softball of the season but still had to beat Southmoreland in the WPIAL’s third-place game just to make the state tournament, where they won their first three games to advance to the championship round.

“This whole season has been surreal,” Olivia Gray said. “If you told me before the season that we would go to the state championship game, then I probably would have said you were crazy and laughed. Our goal was just to go further into the playoffs, past the second round of the WPIALs. That’s the round we lost in the last two years. To get here, and do it with my best friends, is surreal.

“That experience, having to battle for a playoff spot, seemed to bring us closer together. It made us realize that nothing is ever promised. We got here as the No. 3 seed (in the WPIAL) and wanted to live in the moment and make sure we had no regrets. Going out sad is not what we want to do.”

For the Hillers, it was not a sad ending, simply a disappointing one. The clutch hitting that had bailed them out of so many tight spots all season wasn’t there in the title game. But the Hillers were here and that was satisfying.

And more than anybody should have ever expected.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com.