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Bats incredible: Carmichaels routs section champion

3 min read
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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Carmichaels’ Emma Holaren hits a line drive against Seton LaSalle in a WPIAL Class 2A first-round playoff game at Peters Township. Holaren had a double and two singles for the Mikes.

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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Carmichaels’ Gina Ranieri beats the the tag by Seton LaSalle’s Alexis Riske at third base in the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs Wednesday at Peters Township.

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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Carmichaels’ Kylie Sinn pitches against Seton LaSalle in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A softball playoffs at Peters Township.

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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Carmichaels’ Emma Holaren fields a ball against Seton LaSalle on Wednesday in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs at Peters Township.

MCMURRAY – When the WPIAL released its softball playoff pairings, there were some who questioned how Carmichaels was slotted as the No. 11 seed in Class AA. The Mikes had won 13 regular-season games and owned a victory over fifth-seeded Frazier.

The Mikes (14-5) showed Wednesday afternoon that the seed is irrelevant as they pounded out 17 hits en route to a 12-4 win over sixth-seeded Seton LaSalle at Pleasant Valley Field on the campus of the Peters Township School District.

“I’m excited about that,” said Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs of his team hitting the ball so well against the Rebels. “When we do that, we are pretty tough.”

Carmichaels erupted for four runs on five hits in the first inning and never looked back.

Kylie Sinn led off the game with the first of her four singles and Shelbee McCann drove her in with an RBI double.

By the end of the half-inning, Gina Ranieri, Mia Ranieri and Emily Conklin had singled to produce runs.

The Rebels (11-6), the Section 1 champions, countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning with the help of two Carmichaels errors.

“We had the jitters early,” Briggs said. “We had a couple of plays that we normally make, but we settled down and played really good defense after that.”

The score held into the fourth, when Carmichaels scored three runs to open a 7-3 advantage.

Abby Fordyce walked with one out and Sinn singled. With two outs, Emma Holaren doubled to drive in Fordyce and Gina Ranieri drove in both Sinn and Holaren.

The Mikes put the game away with three more runs in the fifth.

Another single by Sinn drove in a pair of runs for the Mikes. Sinn scored on an RBI single by Holaren.

Seton-LaSalle added a run in the fifth, but Carmichaels closed out the scoring with two more runs in the seventh when Holaren had an RBI single and Gina Ranieri drove in a run with a fielder’s choice.

McCann finished with a double and a triple, Holaren had a double and two singles and Gina Ranieri added a double and a single.

Sinn went the distance in the pitcher’s circle for Carmichaels. She struck out five.

“We played well in all facets of the game,” Briggs said. “At the plate, in the field after the first inning, on the bases and Kylie pitched well.

“Kylie leads by example and hopefully we can keep things going.”

Up next for Carmichaels in the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals is third-seeded Laurel (17-2), a 16-1 winner over Riverview in the opening round.

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