PT rally falls short in loss to Baldwin
Peters Township pitcher Kylie Hartbauer throws to first base in the first inning Monday against Baldwin.
Peters Township’s Lindsey Thomas is unable to cleanly field a fourth-inning ground ball Monday against Baldwin.
Peters Township’s reserves cheer on their teammates Monday in the third inning against Baldwin.
Peters Township’s Lindsey Thomas gets a base hit Monday during the fourth inning against Baldwin.
CALIFORNIA – In its first two meetings with Section 4-AAAA foe Baldwin, Peters Township’s softball team was outscored by a combined 17-2 in a pair of losses.
A third meeting between the teams produced the same result, but by a much slimmer margin, as the Indians showed how much they had improved, taking Baldwin to the limit in their WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinal game Monday at California University.
Baldwin (12-3), the section co-champion, scored two runs in the first inning and made them stand up in a 2-1 win over the pesky Indians.
“I am proud of the battle in this team and of the fight in this team,” said Peters Township coach Jess Weigold. “This team fought hard to get here and there is nothing easy in our section.
“The girls showed that we can hang with teams like this and we adjusted this third time against them.”
After Peters Township was retired in the top of the first, Baldwin scored the only runs it would need in the first inning.
Taylor Dadig led off the inning with a single and Ashley Brady reached on an error, which put runners at second and third, respectively.
Samantha Wampler followed with a sacrifice fly to score Dadig, and two batters later, Anastasia Hale singled in Brady.
Both runs were unearned.
Peters Township threatened in the second, but left two runners on in an inning delayed 31 minutes because of lightning.
The 2-0 lead held until the top of the seventh when Peters Township put a run on the board.
Kylie Hartbauer led off the inning with a walk and Jennifer Fitzgerald ran for her. Fitzgerald advanced to second on a bunt by Olivia Castelone and scored on a two-out single by Lindsey Thomas.
Hale, who went the distance for Baldwin and had nine strikeouts, produced a pop out off of the bat of Haley Cecere to end the game and the season for Peters Township.
Despite the loss, Weigold, who took over as head coach three games into the season, was proud of her young team that did not have a senior. The Indians finish at 11-7.
“We start six freshmen and have a lot of young girls here,” she said. “There is a learning curve every game and for them to see what it takes, it will help for next year.
Things will keep going and the girls are hungry for me. We will get back to work here shortly and prepare for the future.”
Dadig led all hitters with a single and a double.