Lady Mikes upset Seton LaSalle, fall to No.3 Laurel
Celeste Van Kirk
Celeste Van Kirk
Carmichaels鈥� Emma Holaren fields the ball against Seton LaSalle on Wednesday in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs at Peters Township.
Carmichaels鈥� Kylie Sinn pitches against Seton LaSalle in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA softball playoffs at Peters Township. (Photo by Celeste Van Kirk)
Carmichaels鈥� Emma Holaren hits a line drive against Seton LaSalle in a WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game at Peters Township. Holaren smacked a double and two singles for the Mikes. (Photo by Celeste Van Kirk)
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Carmichaels鈥� Gina Ranieri beats the the tag by Seton LaSalle蘑菇视频 Alexis Riske at third base in a WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game Wednesday at Peters Township.
When the WPIAL released the softball playoff pairings, there were some who questioned how Carmichaels were slotted 11th in Class AA.
The Lady Mikes showed that the seed is irrelevant on May 15 as they pounded out 17 hits en route to a 12-4 win over Seton LaSalle (11-6) at Pleasant Valley Elementary School Field on the campus of the Peters Township School District.
Carmichaels advanced to Monday蘑菇视频 quarterfinals but fell to third-seeded Laurel at Montour, 12-4.
The Lady Mikes explosive bats pleased their coach Dave Briggs in the win over the Lady Rebels.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited about that,鈥� Briggs said. 鈥淲hen we do that, we are pretty tough.鈥�
Carmichaels (14-6) erupted for four runs on five hits in the first inning and never looked back.
Kylie Sinn led off the game with the first of her four singles and Shelbee McCann drove her in with an RBI double. By the end of the half-inning, Gina Ranieri, Mia Ranieri and Emily Conklin singled to produce the runs.
The Lady Rebels countered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning with the help of two Carmichaels errors.
鈥淲e had the jitters early,鈥� said Briggs. 鈥淲e had a couple of plays that we normally make, but we settled down and played really good defense after that.鈥�
The score held into the fourth when Carmichaels plated three runs to make the score 7-3.
Abby Fordyce walked with one out and Sinn singled. With two outs, Emma Holaren doubled in in Fordyce and Gina Ranieri drove in Sinn and Holaren.
The Lady Mikes put the game away with three more runs in the fifth inning. Sinn singled in a pair and then she scored on an RBI single by Holaren.
Seton-La Salle added a run in the fifth, but Carmichaels closed out the scoring with two more runs in the top of the seventh when Holaren had an RBI single and Gina Ranieri drove in a run with a fielder蘑菇视频 choice.
McCann finished with a double and a triple, while Holaren had a double and two singles and Gina Ranieri added a double and a single.
Sinn went the distance for Carmichaels, striking out five.
鈥淲e played well in all facets of the game,鈥� Briggs said. 鈥淎t the plate, in the field after the first inning, on the bases and Kylie pitched well.
鈥淜ylie leads by example and hopefully we can keep things going.鈥�
The Lady Mikes couldn鈥檛 get by the Lady Spartans, however.
Carmichaels committed six errors in the quarterfinal loss.
The Lady Spartans scored three runs in both the first and second innings, but Carmichaels cut into the deficit with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning.
Laurel pulled away with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Lady Mikes scored single runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, and Laurel closed the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Kayla Ruperto allowed seven hits and walked three, but struck out 15 in the complete-game victory. She also drove in a run and scored twice.
Mackenzie Lattess had a double, two singles, three RBI and three runs scored for Laurel. Madyson Boyd had a pair of singles and drove in three runs.
Sinn went the distance in the loss, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts. She also doubled, singled and scored two runs.
Holaren drove in three runs for the Lady Mikes with a pair of singles. Ranieri also had two hits.