Lady Pioneers suffer heartbreaking loss in PIAA finals
Emotional West Greene players leave the field after losing the PIAA State Class A softball championship game 3-2 to Williams Valley Thursday at Nittany Lion Softball Park in State College. See related stories and photos on B1. (Photo by John Brothers)
John F. Brothers | 蘑菇视频
West Greene蘑菇视频 McKenna Lampe (left) and Mackenzie Carpenter celebrate after both scored on a double by Lampe and a throwing error in the top of the third inning of the PIAA Class A Softball Championship Thursday at Nittany Lion Softball Park in State College.
Williams Valley's Caitlyn Pinchorski (2) steals second base before West Greene shortstop Bailey Bennington (24) can apply the tag in the bottom of the third inning in Thursday's PIAA Class A Softball Championship at Nittany Lion Softball Park in State College.
The ball takes a bad hop on West Greene shortstop Bailey Bennington (24) as Williams Valley's Kenna Ferron (26) slides safely into the bag during the second inning of the Thursday's PIAA State Class A Softball Championship at Nittany Lion Softball Park in State College.
Williams Valley's Bailee McNeal (37) scores ahead of the throw to West Greene catcher Shelby Morris (14) in the bottom of the second inning during the PIAA State Class A Softball Championship Thursday at Nittany Lion Softball Park in State College.
STATE COLLEGE 鈥� There蘑菇视频 a fine line between winning a PIAA championship and heartbreak.
Unfortunately for the West Greene softball team, the Lady Pioneers suffered heartbreak in the Class A title game after Williams Valley walked off with a 3-2 win in the bottom of the seventh Thursday afternoon at Penn State University蘑菇视频 Beard Field.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, leadoff hitter Caitlyn Pinchorski drew a walk and stole second. Senior outfielder Rayanne Hawk came up to the plate and delivered a clutch, game-winning hit that scored the decisive run for the Lady Vikings.
鈥淚 just tried to stay focused,鈥� Hawk said. 鈥淐oach was really positive with me and told me it was my time. I was a little bit late on the pitch and at first I thought it was going to get caught. I just kept on running and the ball just dropped. That ball kept on slicing away.鈥�
With the loss, West Greene closes its record-breaking season with a 26-2 record. The Lady Pioneers鈥� winning streak was halted at 23 games and it蘑菇视频 their first loss since a 4-3 setback to Moore Catholic (NY) on April 1 at the Ripken Experience Tournament.
鈥淵ou had two great teams playing today and this one is hard to swallow,鈥� West Greene coach Billy Simms said. 鈥淪ometimes in close games, the outcome of a game can be decided by just one at-bat. Give them a lot of credit. They got that final hit and it just kept on slicing away from our right fielder.鈥�
This is Williams Valley蘑菇视频 second PIAA Class A softball crown since 2013, while West Greene was making its first state finals in any sport in the school蘑菇视频 history.
West Greene was trying to become the first Greene County team to win PIAA gold since Carmichaels鈥� softball team did so in 1998.
Tianna Yanoscak picked up the win for the Lady Vikings, pitching seven innings and allowing two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Madison Renner suffered the loss for West Greene, tossing 6.2 innings and allowing three runs on six hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
鈥淲est Greene is a great team,鈥� Williams Valley coach Lee Reiser said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 hit like we usually do and our defense gave them some extra outs. Their pitcher kept us on our toes with her change-up and we couldn鈥檛 square it up. I thought our pitcher was really good and got them to chase some high pitches.鈥�
After a scoreless first inning, the Lady Vikings (26-2) had two-out lightning with three straight singles that scored two runs in the bottom of the second.
Kenna Ferron started the scoring with a single, stole second and scored on a single by Megan Schadle and an outfield error.
Schadle made it 2-0 when she crossed home plate after a RBI single by Autumn Calnon.
鈥淭hey had a lot of speed throughout their lineup,鈥� Simms said. 鈥淭hey put pressure on us. But, they didn鈥檛 have any extra-base hits and we didn鈥檛 give them any big inning. They just got more hits with runners in scoring position.鈥�
The Lady Pioneers quickly responded in the third inning, when McKenna Lampe launched a double to dead center field that scored pinch runner Jessica Orndoff.
On the play, an errant throw to third base got away and Lampe alertly scored to knot the contest at 2-2.
Williams Valley threatened to take the lead in the bottom half of the inning, but Renner was able to escape the jam with a 5-2 fielder蘑菇视频 choice and a foul out to right field.
West Greene had a quality scoring chance in the top of the sixth, but Lampe was thrown out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple for the frame蘑菇视频 first out. Renner slapped a single up the middle a couple of at-bats later, but her courtesy runner, Emily Goodwin, was left stranded.
In the top of the seventh, Kaitlyn Rizor drew a walk to start the inning and went to third on two sacrifice bunts. Rizor was left stranded, however, after a foul out to the catcher.
Despite the loss for the Lady Pioneers, the future is very bright for the program as only one senior 鈥� Bailey Bennington 鈥� graduated. A lot of freshmen and sophomores started this year and were key producers for a historic 2016 campaign.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 a great year for us, and this has been the best season of my life,鈥� Bennington said. 鈥淚 know these girls are going to have a couple of more of these seasons. This is a tough one to lose, but I鈥檓 just so thankful for this season.鈥�
The 26 wins are a school record for West Greene, while the Lady Pioneers won their first section title since 1983 and first-ever WPIAL title.
鈥淏oth teams couldn鈥檛 string hits together,鈥� Simms said. 鈥淏oth teams had great offenses, but the pitchers and the defenses were ready to play. I love this team to death and we knew we had to play a complete game to win. We are disappointed in not winning, but hey sometimes it doesn鈥檛 go your way. I will take my girls over anybody.鈥�