May 15, 2023 6 min read

The word “fluke” bothered Sydney Wilson and her teammates.

Last spring, Wilson had an 18-6 pitching record with a 1.16 ERA. She played a big part in Waynesburg University coming out of nowhere to win its first Presidents’ Athletic Conference softball championship since 1993.

It’s hard for any team to repeat regardless of tradition, and if a team doesn’t repeat, then there’s always a risk of that first championship being seen as a “fluke.”

So, for Wilson, the Yellow Jackets had something to prove.

“No one thought we could go back to back,” Wilson said, “and I felt that all of us girls and our coaches knew that if we played our best ball, then we were going to win again because we knew what talent we had, even though everyone else doubted us. So, the feelings were pretty much the same. I was nervous last year, and I was just as nervous this year, even though I had already been there.”

Wilson was in the circle last year when Waynesburg beat top-seeded Westminster to win its first PAC title in almost 30 years.

Earlier this month, Wilson did it again, striking out Westminster’s Elizabeth Malczak with two on in the bottom of the seventh to persevere a 6-3 win and another NCAA Division III tournament berth.

Through 30 games, Waynesburg was a solid 23-7 overall and 11-4 in PAC play. But the team still needed to seal a Presidents’ Athletic Conference Tournament bid, and coach Brett Shimek decided to call a meeting with his captains.

“That was before our last two doubleheaders,” Shimek said. “We really had to play well and play hard, and they responded.”

Senior captain Ella Brookman, a Chartiers-Houston graduate, was in that meeting.

“I feel like after we had that conversation, we got together,” said Brookman, who hit .429 with a team-high 31 RBI. “We stuck by each other’s sides as leaders. We told the younger girls, ‘If we want to go further, we need to be a team. We need to play together. If one of us goes down, we need to pick each other up.’ That’s how we were last year.”

Waynesburg went 3-1 over its last four regular-season games, with the only loss coming in the regular-season finale against Westminster.

That last loss was costly because Waynesburg needed to win to seal the PAC regular-season title and host the conference tournament for the first time in school history.

But by beating Westminster in the first end of that doubleheader, Waynesburg got a chance to play in the tournament, and an opportunity was all it needed.

Second-seeded Waynesburg beat third-seeded Allegheny once and top-seeded Westminster twice to bring it home.

Wilson carried Waynesburg’s starting rotation throughout her fantastic freshman season. Of Waynesburg’s 38 games, Wilson started 22. But it wore her down; another year like that would have made things more difficult.

Enter Wilson’s childhood friend, Autumn Stemple.

A two-time first-team all-state performer at University High School in Morgantown, W.Va., Stemple came to Waynesburg for her freshman season and almost instantly gave the Yellow Jackets something the 2022 PAC champs didn’t have: a strong No. 2 starter.

“Autumn Stemple has been a big-time pitcher for us,” Shimek said.

Entering the NCAA Division III tournament, which for Waynesburg begins Thursday in Angola, Ind., against fifth-ranked Trine (35-4), Stemple is 11-4 with a 2.04 ERA.

“I had to take care of myself (last year) a lot more than I have had to this year just because I have Autumn having my back, and I have Autumn’s back,” Wilson said.

“I knew that she was going to push me to be the best that I could be, and she, in fact, did that,” Stemple said. “She did push me. I was excited. I was excited to not only have my old teammate back but have some help from one of my best friends, too.”

When Waynesburg got to the PAC tournament, Stemple started the first game against Allegheny. All she did was pitch a no-hitter.

“She’s been a major, major part of this team,” Wilson said.

Of course, Wilson is still a star, too.

In 19 starts, she’s gone 17-4 with a 1.32 ERA.

Shimek knew how high Wilson set the bar for herself in Year 1, and he feels she’s lived up to it as a sophomore.

“She’s been lights out,” Shimek said. “She’s been every bit as good, if not better, than last year. … She hit a different level.”

The bare minimum for Waynesburg is to win an NCAA tournament game.

In its first-round game last season, Waynesburg led the No. 3 team in the country, Eastern Connecticut State, 3-2 in the fourth inning before falling, 4-3.

In its second game of the double-elimination tournament, Waynesburg lost 6-1 to Alfred.

The Yellow Jackets are looking to go further than ever.

“Going into this season, I wanted to be on a national level,” Shimek said. “It’s been our goal.”

Brookman feels last year’s experience will strengthen the team’s thirst for victory.

“I feel like, this year, we know what it’s like,” Brookman said. “There’s so many more cameras. There’s so many more people, and there’s (teams) that are really good. And I feel like, since we were there last year, we know what to expect, and we want it even more this year because we want to prove to people that we are more than what they think we are.”

So, how far can the Jackets plan to take this thing?

“I see us, honestly, playing until June,” Brookman said. “Especially how our team’s chemistry is going right now. We’re really getting the feel of each other, we’re really starting to trust each other, and we’re just having fun.”

The Washington & Jefferson baseball team will open NCAA Division III regional play against Misericordia University on Friday.

The four-team double-elimination regional will be played at Tambur Field in Dallas, Luzerne County, and hosted by Misericordia The Presidents and Cougars will be joined by Salve Regina and Keystone.

The Presidents qualified by winning the PAC tournament. W&J will be making its 10th appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Presidents enter with a 31-12 record. 

Misericordia has a 33-12 record and is the second-seeded team at the regional. Salve Regina (37-8-1) is the top seed. Keystone has a 30-12 record.