No. 3 Laurel ends Cougars’ season with shutout
A three-run third inning was the catalyst for the Spartans’ 4-0 win over No. 6 Charleroi.
Sometimes in the high school softball playoffs, it’s all about the team that can put a crooked number up in an inning and which team can prevent that number.
No. 3 Laurel plated three decisive runs in the third inning and that proved to be the difference in a defensive, low-scoring game as No. 6 Charleroi fell 4-0 in the Class 2A Quarterfinals Thursday evening at North Allegheny High School.
“We knew this would be a tough matchup, but the girls competed to the final out,” Charleroi coach Trey Tilghman said. “They got that crooked number in the third and that was huge in this game. I was really hoping for us to get on the board early and play with a lead. You got to score runs. Their pitcher was great and we couldn’t string enough hits together.”
The Cougars (14-5) dropped its third straight game in the quarterfinal round, as they couldn’t sustain any consistent offense against Laurel’s pitcher Autumn Boyd.
Boyd scattered three hits to Charleroi and had another walk in a complete-game shutout with 13 strikeouts.
“It was tough,” Tilghman said. “I bet a lot of teams lose 4-0 to Laurel. They don’t give you too much and you have to work for everything. We chased some bad pitches early against Boyd, but then we settled in and started to make some contact. Just couldn’t get that key hit with runners on base today.”
The Spartans advanced to the semifinals for the sixth year in a row and will now play No. 2 Bentworth in the round of four next week with a site and time to be determined.
Charleroi’s Sofia Celaschi pitched a solid game for the Cougars in the loss, as the senior lefty allowed four runs off 10 hits with seven strikeouts and a free pass on 98 pitches in six innings of work.
“It was your typical, Sofia game for her in the circle,” Tilghman said. “She was in the zone and she mixed up her pitches well. She is a competitor and she kept us in the game.”
Avery Pendo slapped a oneout double in the first inning for Charleroi, but she was left stranded as Boyd fielded a sacrifice bunt and then registered a strikeout to get out of the opening inning.
Celaschi worked around three hits in the first two innings, and was doing fine until the middle of the Spartans’ lineup made her pay with some crushing shots to the outfield.
Addison Deal and Boyd belted back-to-back, RBI doubles in the third frame to get the offense going for Laurel and then Hayden Seifert tallied an RBI single to make it 3-0. Deal and Seifert grabbed three hits apiece for the Spartans.
Pendo was on base again for the Cougars in the fourth after a third strike wasn’t caught behind the plate. The junior shortstop then took second base on an error by the catcher and then went to third base after a fly out to right. Once again, Pendo was left stranded after a groundout to the pitcher.
After Laurel tacked on another run in the fourth via a run-producing hit by Deal, Charleroi had another chance to get on the scoreboard when Emma Stefanik worked an one-out walk and then her coutesy runner, Vanessa Gray, moved to third base after a slap hit by Emma Skobel and an errant throw to first.
With two runners in scoring position, Boyd wiggled out of the jam with a strikeout. Boyd limited Charleroi to one more runner, a single by Riley Jones in the sixth, in the final two innings to pull out the postseason triumph.
The Cougars lose seven seniors this season, as they will look to reload for 2025.
