May 14, 2013 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – Cassie Weiss had been waiting for this opportunity.

The McGuffey softball team’s starting pitcher often has to take fewer practice swings, head coach Bill Loar said, because of how seriously she takes pitching.

She’d also endured an early-season slump at the plate, one that saw her plummet from fifth to eighth in the Highlanders’ batting order.

With one swing of the bat, however, Weiss made her hitting woes a distant memory, as she slapped an outside fastball to right field to score pinch-runner Faith Henderson in the top of the eighth inning, lifting ninth-seeded McGuffey to a 5-4 win over No. 8 Keystone Oaks in a WPIAL Class AA first-round game at Baldwin High School.

“I just told myself, ‘I have to hit this ball. I have to make contact.'” Weiss said. “I just let it rip, I guess.”

Henderson, pinch-running for third baseman Sarah Kleinhans, who singled, collided with Keystone Oaks catcher Meghan Staab. After she rose from the cloud of dust, third-base coach Paula Weiss emphatically urged Henderson to make sure she touched home.

She did. Twice.

Weiss shook off a rocky start – she allowed four runs on three extra-base hits, two of them homers, through the first three innings – but finished by allowing one hit and two walks over the final 5 2/3 innings.

“Cassie got a few pitches up, and they made her pay for it,” Loar said. “That’s just one of those things in the playoffs. Each round you go, the teams are going to get a little better; you just can’t make those mistakes.”

McGuffey (15-5) advanced to the quarterfinals and will play top-seeded Deer Lakes Monday or Tuesday, site and time to be determined.

McGuffey bounced back from a 4-3 deficit after second baseman Marlie Mounts led off the sixth inning by crushing the first pitch she saw over the fence in left center.

That tied the game, and it came on a pitch that produced several thoughts.

Mounts joked about how you don’t see many first-pitch change-ups. “You don’t see people swinging at them either,” Mounts said. “Our coaches will have a fit.”

Golden Eagles coach Mark Kaminski blamed himself for calling what he said was a screwball.

“Two pitches that I called … bad. I apologized to the girls,” Kaminski said. “That’s the best game they’ve played all year. They couldn’t have played any better, and I feel like I let them down.”

Keystone Oaks took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when shortstop Kiersten Badzgon drove a 2-2 fastball to center for a solo homer.

McGuffey scored three runs to momentarily take control – all with two outs – in the second. Catcher C.C. Wagner started the rally with a seven-pitch walk and scored on a hooking double to left from first baseman Moriah McGuier.

Right fielder Stacey Martin singled to right for the Highlanders’ second run, moving to third on a two-base error. She later scored on shortstop Sammie Weiss’ double to left.

Keystone Oaks matched McGuffey’s three-spot in the bottom of the third.

Staab, a right-handed hitter, pushed a fastball over the fence in right field. Pitcher Alexis Tripp’s grounder to short scored the fourth run, but that only provided a forum for Weiss, who didn’t get the ball out of the infield in her three previous at-bats.

“As a pitcher, Cassie a lot of times doesn’t get the reps that a hitter gets at the beginning of the season because she’s concentrating a lot on pitching,” Loar said. “It took her awhile to get around. I was glad to see her get the big hit today. She’s earned her way back in it a little bit.

“She was struggling at the beginning of the season, but I think it was from a lack of reps. She’s starting to come around now.”