Gritty Perryopolis advances to title game

By JEREMY SELLEW

jsellew@yourmvi.com

The championship of the Mon Valley Independent Senior Swing is set and it’s no surprise. The two teams meeting tonight at 8 p.m. have set the standard when it comes to local high school softball over the past year. 

But for Perryopolis to reach the finals under the lights at the DiVirgilio Complex in Rostraver, the Commodores needed to get through Jaguars Fast Pitch in Tuesday’s semifinal at Washington Township.

Perry’s players showed their championship mettle, overcoming adversity, scoring clutch runs and flashing some leather defensively behind senior hurler Logan Hartman en route to a 6-4 win to set up a showdown for the Senior Swing title.

After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the second after the Jaguars’ Lily Rockwell sent a rocket deep over the center field fence, the Commodores bounced back to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the inning.

Perry’s half of the inning started after Jaguars pitcher Bella Bucy walked Kathryn Barch, who moved to second on a stolen base before Rylee Evans’ RBI single made it 2-1.

Two batters later, Mackenzie Kelly roped a single to center that left fielder Bree Masters seemed to take her eye off for a split second, allowing the ball to drop behind her for a hit.

After Madison Bednar struck out for the second out of the inning, Maria Felsher hammered a hard liner to center that skipped past center fielder Claire Whalen for an error, allowing Evans and Kelly to score to give Perry the lead.

“We had a few bobbles in the outfield and it cost us,” Jaguars FP coach Heidi Karcher said. “Again, they’re freshmen. We had a lot of kids playing positions they never played before. It’ll be OK.”

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