Chartiers-Houston survives third battle with Mikes to reach WPIAL final
West Greene falls to Union in semifinals
McKEES ROCKS – The third gut-wrenching clash between Chartiers-Houston and Carmichaels came down to an epic battle between two of the district’s top Class A players on Wednesday afternoon.
The Bucs held a precarious 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning of the WPIAL semifinal matchup with a runner on first, two outs and ace Meadow Ferri in the circle when Mikes star shortstop Carys McConnell came striding to the plate.
Chartiers-Houston coach Tricia Alderson had intentionally walked McConnell with first base open earlier in the game but opted not to pitch around her this time.
“No. I didn’t want to put the tying run on second base,” Alderson said. “But she’s such a good hitter. We’ve intentionally walked her several times in the past.
“We were going to go at her and Meadow brought her best stuff.”
The stage was set, the count went full and Ferri delivered a perfectly placed low fastball on the outside corner. McConnell swung hard and came up empty.
And the Bucs burst into celebration.
Chartiers-Houston’s tense 3-2 win at Montour High School sent them into next week’s WPIAL championship game for the first time in eight years.
“It’s a long time coming,” said a soaked Alderson after receiving a Gatorade bath from her players. “We’ve been working since June of last year for this moment so we’re really happy to be back in the finals, finally.”
There the third-seeded Bucs (16-2) will face top-seeded Union at PennWest-California University’s Lilley Field. The Scotties defeated fifth-seeded West Greene in the earlier game at Montour, 10-0 in six innings.
Second-seeded Carmichaels (14-3) will play West Greene in a third-place consolation game, also next week, although both teams have already clinched a spot in the PIAA tournament.
Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs expected another tight battle with the Bucs.
“We’ve played them 31 innings this year and we’re dead even on runs,” said Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs on the closeness of the rivalry.
The two split two regular-season games with the Mikes winning a 7-5 17-inning suspended game at Chartiers-Houston and the Bucs taking a 6-5 win at Carmichaels as the two shared the Section 2 title.
“Obviously Carmichaels is a great team and our section is a good section,” Alderson said, pointing out three of the final four teams came from Section 2. “Who knows, we may have to meet again.”
Before the dramatic final confrontation, two unsung heroes emerged for Chartiers-Houston which broke a 2-2 tie with a run in the top of the seventh inning off losing pitcher Bailey Barnyak.
After Mikes centerfielder Duski Staggers made a spectacular running catch of Emily Swarrow’s fly ball for the first out of the inning, No. 8 hitter Sydney English completed a 3-for-3 day with a single to center and was replaced by pinch runner Aubree Randolph.
“She’s a really fast kid who is a utility player for us,” Alderson said of Randolph. “She’s always ready to go.”
Randolph advanced to second on Alana Palone’s sacrifice bunt and took third on a wild pitch.
That brought up Ella Richey who had already homered leading off the game and doubled. During the at bat, Richey lost control of her bat on a swing and miss and it struck catcher Kaitlyn Waggett in the ribs. Waggett fell to the ground in pain briefly but popped back up and stayed in the game.
The next pitch from Barnyak skipped past Waggett and Randolph broke for home, beating Waggett’s toss to Barnyak to score what proved to be the winning run.
“I told her when she was on third you’re going to score the winning run right here,” Alderson said. “It was a close play but I thought she slid in under.”
Briggs thought Waggett perhaps wasn’t fully recovered from absorbing the hit with the bat.
“I don’t know if that affected her or not but then on the next pitch after that is when it happened and it was a tough play but she usually makes those,” Briggs said. “One play here or there, that’s what all our games come down to, and that was a big one and a close play.”
Waggett had two of Carmichaels’ five hits, including a two-out single in the seventh before McConnell’s at bat.
Richey electrified the Charters-Houston fans on hand by leading off the game with a solo home run to center field for a quick 1-0 lead.
Ferri retired the first seven batters before Staggers hit a knuckling liner for an infield hit with one out in the third. Waggett hit a bloop double that fell in front of diving left fielder Zaylee Fonner one out later to put runners on second and third. Alderson opted to intentionally walk McConnell with first base open and Ferri got Barnyak to ground out to first baseman Seanna Riggle for the third out.
An outstanding defensive play by Carmichaels kept the score at 1-0 in the fifth.
English hit a one out single to left and tried to score on Richey’s two-out double to deep center. Second baseman Megan Voithofer’s relay throw from Staggers to home was on the money with Waggett applying the tag on the sliding English for the inning-ending out.
“That was just a great play out there but all of them,” Briggs said.
The Mikes took advantage of a clutch hit by McConnell and a mental mistake by the Bucs to score twice to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning.
Staggers drew a one-out walk and Alayna Simon reached base when her bunt was misplayed to put runners on first and second. One out later McConnell laced an RBI double just inside the first base line and was racing to third when Simon held up from going home after rounding the bag and was retreating to the same base. The Bucs tried unsuccessfully to throw out McConnell as she scrambled back to second and Simon then alertly raced home with the go-ahead run.
“I was sending her home but then she stopped, and then I was hoping that Carys could stay in a rundown long enough where we could get her in and it worked out for us,” Briggs said.
The lead didn’t last long.
Lauren Rush reached third on a single and two-base outfield error to start the top of the sixth then scored on Ferri’s ground out to Voithofer to make it 2-2.
“It was a hard hit that bounced weird in the outfield,” Briggs said. “We had just taken the lead and just couldn’t shut them down there.”
Barnyak allowed seven hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Ferri gave up just five hits with two walks, including the one intentional pass, with nine strikeouts.
Briggs wasn’t upset with his team despite the tough loss.
“I said I was proud of them, they played hard,” Briggs said. “I’m not mad at them. They played their hearts out.”
Alderson lauded her squad also.
“I’m just very proud of the team,” Alderson said. “They’ve worked so hard and they’re such a close group. They really deserve it.”
Union 10, West Greene 0
Irelyn Fisher’s three-run homer highlighted a four-run third inning as top-seeded Union defeated No. 5 West Greene, 10-0 in six innings, in a WPIAL Class A semifinal softball game at Montour High School.
Mia Preus, who also homered, pitched a three-hit shutout with one walk and seven strikeouts as the Scotties advanced to next week’s championship game.
Mallory Gorgacz doubled twice and drove in a run and Maggie Joseph also doubled for Union (20-1) which led 4-0 before ending the game on the mercy rule with six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“We knew they had the potential to put some runs up,” West Greene coach Bill Simms said. “We hung in there but they did a good job of closing us out late.”
Losing pitcher Payton Gilbert allowed three earned runs on five hits with four walks and one strikeout in five innings before being relieved by Sammi Zimmerman.
The Pioneers (13-8) threatened to score first in the first and third innings..
Gilbert singled with one out in the first, stole second and went to third on Emmaline Beazell’s ground out but Preuhs ended the inning with a strikeout.
Ella Scott singled leading off the third inning for West Greene and was bunted to second by Ali Goodwin but Marissa Thaprp lined into an inning-ending double play.
“That play kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit,” Simms said. “Then they rebounded right after that and had the big home run the next inning.”
The only other hit Preuhs allowed was a one-out double to Beazell in the fourth.
Fisher’s home run gave Union a 3-0 lead in the third and Gorgacz added a run-scoring double later in the inning to make it 4-0.
The Scotties combined Pruehs’ homer with two doubles, three singles and a walk to score six runs in the sixth with Tori May’s RBI hit ending the game with two outs.
“They’re two-time WPIAL champions for a reason,” Simms said. “We’re not going to go around and criticize our girls. We’re going to give credit where credit is due.”