Jun 3, 2013 4 min read

WEXFORD – All those statistics-padding blowouts – the Mercy Rule games, the home run derbies and even the perfect game by the pitcher – are impressive. And plenty of fun, too.

But you probably had a feeling that sometime during the postseason the Canon-McMillan High School softball team would have to play a low-scoring tense affair, a pitchers’ duel, a grind-it-out battle in which one swing of the bat makes the difference between winning and losing.

That time was Monday in the first round of the PIAA playoffs against the only team to defeat the Big Macs this season.

Canon-McMillan’s Olivia Lorusso, proving that softball is indeed a game of inches, backed off the plate and hit a two-run homer, and pitcher Alayna Astuto came within one out of shutout, as the Big Macs pulled out a 2-1 victory over Hempfield in a Class AAAA game at North Allegheny High School.

“You have to win games like this. Playoff softball is tight games between evenly matched teams, especially ones that have seen the other about 100 times,” Canon-McMillan coach Michele Moeller said. “You only get a couple of chances in playoff softball.”

The win sends Canon-McMillan (22-1) into the state quarterfinals Thursday against North Allegheny (18-5), a 5-3 winner over DuBois in the first round. It will be a rematch of the WPIAL title game won by Canon-Mac, 5-2.

This was the third meeting of the year between C-M and Hempfield (18-7), which defeated the Big Macs 17-6 back in early April. That was a game in which Astuto did not pitch. When the teams met in the WPIAL semifinals less than two weeks ago, Astuto threw a perfect game against the Spartans and C-M won 5-0.

This time, Hempfield mustered six hits and a walk, but the Spartans couldn’t convert them into runs until there were two outs in the seventh.

Meanwhile, C-M made the most of its few opportunities against Hempfield pitcher Hope Pehrson. The Big Macs had only four hits, with two coming from Lorusso.

An error on a ground ball hit by Linda Rush helped keep the Big Macs’ fourth inning alive. With two outs and Rush at second base, Hempfield held a defensive conference in the pitchers’ circle with Lorusso prepared to bat. Lorusso had taken a called third strike in the first inning, so she didn’t expect to be intentionally walked, especially with hard-hitting catcher Giorgiana Zeremenko on deck.

“I expected them to pitch to me. I thought they’d pitch me on the outside corner,” Lorusso explained. “But they pitched me inside in the first at-bat. They had pitched me inside for two years, so I decided to back off the plate about four inches.”

That’s all the room Lorrusso needed as she hit the first pitch – an inside fastball – from Pehrson over the fence in left centerfield for a two-run homer.

“I knew it was gone when I hit it,” Lorusso said. “I felt it.”

The two runs were enough for C-M because Astuto was able to work out of several jams. Hempfield loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the fourth, but Kelly Mahoney popped out to Lorusso at third base to end the threat. In the sixth, the Spartans had runners on first and second with two outs when Michaela LeDonne flied out to left fielder Tara Fowler.

“We swung at some pitches up in our eyes,” Hempfield coach Bob Kalp said.

In the seventh, Taylor Kusma hit a one-out single, and two batters later Alaina Montgomery fouled off several two-strike pitches before smacking a two-out, run-scoring double to the fence in left field, cutting C-M’s lead to 2-1. Montgomery advanced to third base when the Big Macs’ relay throw went to home plate.

“Another two feet on that hit and the game would have been tied,” Kalp said.

Callie Madden then popped out to shortstop Rush, who made a nice running catch in shallow left field, to end the game.

“I’ve been talking to the kids about the importance of every pitch, how one swing of the bat can make the difference,” Moeller said. “That was a great game for us to win.”