Jun 3, 2013 3 min read

STATE COLLEGE – A leadoff hitter who changes the game with her bat, routinely shooting line drives up the middle and doubles off the outfield wall.

The Chartiers-Houston softball team has seen this storyline unfold countless times with all Kayla Briggs has done over the past four years. But in the first round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs Monday, it was Philipsburg-Osceola’s Carly Gonder who stole the spotlight from that leadoff spot.

Gonder doubled twice and lined a two-run single up the middle to power the District 6 champions to a 4-1 win over the Bucs at Penn State University’s Nittany Lion Softball Park.

Bucs coach Tricia Alderson said she and her staff listened to Philipsburg-Osceola’s district final on the Internet, a game in which Gonder was batting seventh.

“I see why they moved her up now,” Alderson said. “We pitched her drop balls, screwballs … whatever it was she was driving it.”

Mounties coach Jim Gonder explained it was a hunch he played at the beginning of the PIAA playoffs.

“Sometimes as a coach, you look at the stats, you look at the trends,” Jim Gonder said. “We have a lot of information we were basing the decision. It wasn’t just flipping a coin.

“Of course, sometimes you also get lucky.”

Chartiers-Houston (19-2) was trying to reached the PIAA quarterfinals for the seventh time in the past 10 seasons, but the Bucs came up short, recording just three hits off Kate Burge, who walked one and struck out 10.

Phillipsburg-Osceola (22-1) advances to the PIAA quarterfinals and will play WPIAL runner-up Deer Lakes Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

While Gonder’s game was certainly impressive, the fireworks were expected more from Mackenzie Burge and Abby Showers, who were a combined 6-for-8, with five RBI, three triples and four runs in the Mounties’ 8-7 victory over Ligonier Valley in the District 6 final.

Philipsburg-Osceola got its first run in the bottom of the third inning when Gonder led off with a double and scored on a fielder’s choice.

The Mounties made it 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, with Gonder lining the first pitch of her at-bat up the middle for a two-run single to score third baseman Haley Hayward and center fielder Megan Bainey.

The game could’ve been well out of reach at that point, though, had it not been for Bucs pitcher Toni Spossey escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first by getting a pair of grounders to third and a tapper back to the mound.

Chartiers-Houston’s run came in the top of the fifth. Shortstop Megan Kraushaar and Craig singled, and Kraushaar scored when Kate Burge dropped the throw from her catcher after striking out Sabrina Stankus.

Showers made it 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth when she shot a single up the middle to score Mackenzie Burge.

“We know they have a good program all the way around, so we knew they were going to be good hitters one through nine,” Alderson said. “We expected them to hit the ball.”

Extra bases

Bucs third baseman Sabrina Stankus had seven putouts and turned in a sparkling performance. “She robbed us about three times tonight,” Jim Gonder said. “She made some nice plays.” … Sutton, Kraushaar and Craig had the hits for Chartiers-Houston, which scored one run or fewer twice all year, though both of those happened in the past three games. … This is the first year since 2009 that Chartiers-Houston did not win a WPIAL or PIAA title.