Small ball helps Hillers reach PIAA semifinals
Trinity’s Lauren McGavitt hugs teammate Delaney Elling after scoring in the fifth inning of a PIAA Class AAA semifinal Thursday against Belle Vernon. Trinity scored seven runs in the inning.
Trinity’s Delaney Elling slides safely into home while Belle Vernon’s catcher Nicole Ashcraft tries to make the tag in the fifth inning.
Trinity’s Olivia Gray just misses a ground ball in the seventh inning Thursday game.
Trinity coaches and players had plenty of reasons to celebrate after reaching the PIAA semifinals for the first time since 2009.
CALIFORNIA – It wasn’t typical, but it was effective, as bunting propelled Trinity into their first PIAA Class AAA softball semifinal since 2009 with an 8-4 win against Belle Vernon at California University’s Lilley Field Thursday afternoon.
The win gave the Hillers (19-5) their second victory of the season in three meetings against Section 3-AAA rival and WPIAL champion Belle Vernon (21-3).
“It feels awesome,” Trinity coach Shawn Gray said. “The girls are excited. The coaches are excited. The administrations came out for this game. This is a good time for Trinity. We executed when we needed to and when we do that, we score a lot of runs.”
The Hillers advance to play District 6 champion Bellwood-Antis in the semifinals Monday at a site and time to be determined.
Both pitchers – Trinity’s Paige Galentine and highly touted Belle Vernon freshman Bailey Parshall – got by with the slightest margin of error until Trinity scored seven runs in the fifth inning.
And only one ball left the infield.
Junior Kim Dunst, the No. 9 hitter, was hit by a pitch to start the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball. Leadoff batter Madison Hornak followed with a bunt single, putting runners on the corners. A walk to Olivia Gray loaded the bases, and the Hillers took a 1-0 lead on a passed ball.
The Hillers scored again on their second bunt of the inning – this one by Galentine, who reached base on an error by first baseman Natalie Church.
After Hali Justice popped out on a bunt attempt, Shelby Clemens laid down another bunt. Parshall’s throw to home was late, allowing a second run to score.
Riley Riotto then delivered another fielder’s choice to give Trinity a 5-0 lead.
“Any way to get a run across,” Shawn Gray said. “I don’t care how we score them. Runs and runners matter the most. We had the same chance in the third inning and we didn’t produce. We turned around and threw something else at them. You have to adjust during the game for the best way to score runs.”
The Hillers, who left the bases loaded in the third inning, finished the fifth with two more runs on a base hit from Dunst to push the lead to 7-0.
While Trinity capitalized in the fifth, Belle Vernon couldn’t convert several opportunities. The Leopards got the lead runner on base and had at least two baserunners in every inning.
Belle Vernon’s best chance came in the bottom of the sixth. Already down 8-0, Belle Vernon loaded the bases with no outs. It looked like Galentine would get out of the inning with two strikeouts, but a two-run single by Nicole Ashcraft gave the Leopards their first runs.
“She had a little pain on the elbow but she came through and went deep for our team,” Gray said about Galentine.
The Leopards sent the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning, but Emily Frederick flew out to left field to end the game.
“I am ecstatic for the girls,” Belle Vernon coach Tom Rodriguez said. “I still don’t think they know what hit them. It doesn’t happen very often where we are the WPIAL champs. They just outdid us today. You can’t win many games when you have 16 runners left on base. It happens.”
The loss snapped an 18-game winning streak by Belle Vernon, which began following a regular-season loss to the Hillers. Galentine picked up the win, despite issuing 10 walks. Ashcraft had three RBI to lead Belle Vernon.