Big inning pushes OLSH past No. 4 Eagles

Cassidy Trahan had two hits and Kelly Morrissey hit a two-run homer for Serra Catholic in the loss.

In a battle of softball programs looking to reach their third consecutive WPIAL semifinal and their first semifinal in school history, it was another triumph for Our Lady of the Sacred Heart as it outlasted Serra Catholic 10-5 in an entertaining affair at Montour High School Thursday.

The No. 5 Chargers (14-4) responded to a strong start from the Eagles (12-5) with a six-run second inning to set up a matchup with No. 1 Neshannock for a chance at the district championship. It was the second straight year that OLSH defeated Serra Catholic in the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals.

“We were aggressive today, and the plate discipline was better than it was in the first round (Tuesday against Steel Valley),” OLSH head coach David Quinn said. “We were sitting back waiting for the fastball and waiting for pitches that we wanted.”

One of the more timely OLSH hitters was Leann Walzer, who totaled five RBIs in the leadoff spot. Julia Pinter, another sophomore, only managed one hit in the four spot, but it similarly brought two runs in.

As for the Eagles, they were unable to overcome some costly mistakes, but manager Denny Willaman was proud of how hard his squad worked to try and battle back.

“We’re not quite good enough offensively to overcome so many defensive mistakes, and it’s just little mental things here and there,” he said. “It’s nothing physical. It is what it is. Against the better teams, we just have to play pretty perfect defense. They got the big hits when they needed them, and we didn’t.

“We came back tough and made it 6-5 at one point, but we just couldn’t come all the way back.”

Starting pitcher Kelly Morrisey gave up four hits and six runs over three innings before Madisyn Zigarovich pitched the last four frames, allowing four hits and four runs.

Offensively, Serra Catholic was led by two RBIs from Morrisey and two hits from Cassidy Trahan.

The Eagles opened the scoring in the first with a big at-bat from Morrisey.

Maria Goldstein hit a single with one out before Morrisey stepped up and cleared the bases with a long ball to left center. Her dinger made it 2-0 after the first inning.

The Chargers took advantage of some Serra Catholic mistakes for a huge second frame to take the lead.

An error put Lilli Wamsley on first before a walk put runners on first and second. Then, Wamsley seemed to be caught stealing and found herself in a run down, but an erroneous throw away allowed Wamsley to reach third and Camryn Hummel to get to second with one out.

Jordyn Velmire and McKinley Walsh were then issued free passes, with the second walk scoring the first run of the game for the Chargers. Walzer then stepped up and snatched a lead for OLSH, smacking a double that scored three runs to make the score 4-2.

Walzer proceeded to score on an error that helped Ava Ciummo reach base, and Ciummo scored the final run of the inning on an RBI single from Morgan O’Brien to make it 6-2 entering the bottom of the second.

Johanna Domek doubled to lead off the bottom of the frame, but she was stranded as Wamsley forced a groundout and two strikeouts.

The Eagles wasted no time battling back.

Ava Wiesnewski singled before Morrisey reached on an error that allowed Wiesnewski to score and make the score 6-3. With two outs and Morrisey’s courtesy runner, Bailee Dayton, at second, Trahan hit a standup double to center field and made it 6-4 before the end of the inning.

After a scoreless fourth, Serra Catholic cut its deficit to one with another run in the fifth.

Morrisey hit a ball to deep right field that came off the glove of Walsh and dropped to the ground, allowing the freshman to reach third base with one out. Zigarovich proceeded to ground out, which brought the run in and cut the OLSH advantage to 6-5.

That would be the last run of the season for the Eagles, though, while the Chargers managed to add two runs in the sixth and seventh innings for insurance.

After Walzer struck out to open the top of the sixth, Ciummo and O’Brien both managed singles before Pinter earned her first hit of the day with a two-run double to make it 8-5. She was thrown out trying to stretch her luck to third base before a fly out ended the inning.

Three quick Serra Catholic outs later, the Chargers put two runners on second and third with two outs of their own. OLSH needed a big hit, and leadoff hitter Walzer stepped up with a two-run single to finish the scoring at 10-5.

Seniors Cate Clarke, Reese Diaz, Lauren Johnson and Wiesnewski saw their Serra Catholic softball careers end in the wake of the defeat.

“They played their butts off this year,” Willaman said. “If you would’ve told me at the beginning of the year that we’d make it to the second round of the playoffs, I’d be ecstatic. But as you go on and you keep winning, those expectations keep changing. I’m really proud of them; everyone grew tremendously. Cate Clarke has never played before, and she started all year for us. She was a warrior for us. She’s one of many.

“I tell the girls all the time, I don’t mind losing softball games. It’s tough when you don’t see your seniors anymore. That’s the hardest thing.”