May 16, 2018 3 min read

IMPERIAL – Though the game lasted just three innings, Chartiers-Houston’s softball team should be feeling pretty good about its performance in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon.

The Bucs are one of the better teams in the classification and Northgate is not. So the outcome was not a total surprise.

The Bucs were expected to hit well in this game, and they did.

The Bucs were expected to play good defense, and they did.

And the Bucs were expected to get a strong pitching performance, and they did.

Most important, the Bucs were expected to make quick work of Northgate, and they did just that, needing only three innings to polish off the Flames, 15-0, at West Allegheny High School.

Chartiers-Houston, the runner-up in Section 3 to Frazier, will play Serra in the quarterfinals at a site, date and time to be determined. Chartiers-Houston defeated Serra, 14-1, in the regular season.

Northgate finished the season with a 5-7 record.

“We hit well, we pitched well, we played pretty good defense and we’re glad to be moving on,” said Chartiers-Houston head coach Tricia Alderson. “We felt pretty good coming into this game but you never know.”

Kaci Alderson smacked two home runs to give her 10 for the season. Leadoff hitter Kasey Scears went 3-for-4 with a double and 4 RBI, Karlyn Bayer added a triple, RBI and scored twice, and Madyson Smith was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Even courtesy runner Hannah Siege had a good day, scoring three times.

“I saw the ball pretty well. We worked on getting good cuts and it worked,” said Kaci Alderson. “Everyone is hitting, putting the ball in play and scoring runs. That’s the name of the game.”

Alderson said this was the third time in her career that she hit two home runs in one game.

“If it means we can win a title, then (hitting) is extremely important,” said Scears. “If you are playing a team that can also hit, it helps. The goal for every team is to start something early so that you have a cushion.”

Kaitlyn Dittrich allowed only one hit, struck out five and walked one in three innings. The Bucs defense was solid, not committing an error.

“Everybody is key for us,” said Tricia Alderson. “Hopefully, we can keep the bats going and we’ll see what happens.”

Chartiers-Houston’s offense scored 7 runs in the first inning, 5 in the second and 3 in the third. This was the 12th time this season that the Bucs scored in double figured and the seventh time they recorded a shutout.

“We knew (Chartiers-Houston) was a great team last year and they are a great team this year,” said Northgate head coach Rob Abramowicz. “They are talented and have a good coaching staff. Hopefully, we put the work in and come back and see them in the playoffs again next year.”