Trojans crush Bearcats, earn date with top seed
By JOSE NEGRON
jnegron@yourmvi.com
As he drove home from practice Thursday afternoon, California head softball coach David Young had no intention of playing another game this season.
In Young’s first season at the helm, the Trojans finished the regular season with a 5-13 record, falling one section win short of potentially qualifying for the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs.
After holding an intra-squad scrimmage for his team’s final practice, Young said he received a phone call that quickly changed his group’s plans.
Due to a long-term COVID shutdown of Washington’s softball team and the uncertainty surrounding the possible outcomes of their forfeited games, the WPIAL gave the Trojans an unexpected opportunity to participate in the postseason tournament.
California earned a forfeit win against the Prexies late in the season, but had an early season game postponed. That game was never made up and a forfeit win was not rewarded.
“They said that since Washington’s second forfeit didn’t count for everybody, they couldn’t guarantee that Washington would have lost to both us and Bentworth,” Young explained. “They wanted to make it fair since we split the regular season series with Bentworth and they gave us a chance. That phone call changed all of our plans and we went back to work.”
Appearing in the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2017, California showed it wasn’t satisfied with just being there.
The Trojans avenged a 14-run loss to the Bearcats earlier this month by capturing a 14-1 victory over their section foes in the preliminary round of the Class 2A playoffs Monday at Waynesburg University.
California (6-13) collected 12 hits, took advantage of six Bentworth errors and relied on a strong pitching performance from Kera Urick to advance to the first round.
“These girls earned this,” Young said. “That was the best game we’ve played all year long. They didn’t give up and they fought for seven innings.”
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