Looking for gold
Unbeaten Carmichaels softball hungry for a championship
By Jerin Steele, for the Greene County Messenger
Silver is a fine medal, but gold is the most desired in sports.
The Carmichaels softball team knows how hard the pursuit of that precious gold medal can be.
In the last two seasons the Lady Mikes have been the runner-up in a championship game.
In 2023 it was a 10-8 loss to Union in the WPIAL Class A final and last season ended in a 2-0 loss to Dubois Central Catholic in the state championship.
Most of the team is back from those two seasons, and while they can be proud of what they鈥檝e accomplished already, it蘑菇视频 clear they want more.
They have put themselves in a position for another run at the mountain top.
Carmichaels is 8-0 overall and 4-0 in Section 2-A play and has outscored its opponents 74-9.
鈥淚 feel like the girls are hungry,鈥� Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e come so close the last two years. I think that蘑菇视频 our driving force and main motivation this season.鈥�
The Lady Mikes are led by a pair of juniors in pitcher Bailey Barnyak and shortstop Carys McConnell.
Barnyak has been outstanding in the circle since she first arrived as a freshman. This season she蘑菇视频 allowed only 6 earned runs in 48 innings for a 0.88 ERA.
She has 96 strikeouts to 16 walks and has yielded 23 hits.
Barnyak has hit pretty well too, carrying a .556 batting average with three doubles, two triples, a homer and nine RBIs.
鈥淏ailey has been strong,鈥� Briggs said. 鈥淪he蘑菇视频 looked really, really good.鈥�
McConnell is hitting a team-best .609 with four home runs and 17 RBIs. She蘑菇视频 struck out only one time.
While those two drive the ship, there蘑菇视频 plenty of talent around them.
Katie Waggett (catcher), Ali Jacobs (first base), Allie Miller (third base), Payton Plavi (left field), Duski Staggers (center field) and Avery Voithofer (right field) are all returning starters.
Waggett is hitting .519, Staggers .429 and Jacobs .320, helping make the Lady Mikes a formidable lineup top to bottom.
鈥淐arys is a really good player. She蘑菇视频 been first-team All-State two times. Ali Jacobs was first-team All-State her freshman year and second team last year. Katie Waggett doesn鈥檛 get as much credit as she should, because of the girls around her, but she蘑菇视频 batted leadoff for us for two years and was second-team All-State last year. She蘑菇视频 a real spark plug at the top of our lineup.鈥�
The lineup has been boosted by the return of Ashton Batis, who missed last season because of a knee injury sustained during volleyball. Batis is hitting .591 with a pair of doubles and homers and nine RBIs.
She蘑菇视频 also shored up the infield defense at second base.
Carmichaels has committed just four errors.
鈥淚n the first scrimmage her freshman year (Batis) blew her ACL out on a run down,鈥� Batis siad. 鈥淪he didn鈥檛 play her entire freshman year. Sophomore year she came back and played second base and had a really good year. Last year she blew her ACL again playing volleyball. So, we basically had to take an outfielder and put them at second. She蘑菇视频 playing well defensively and has given us a bump in the lineup.鈥�
Briggs said a few freshmen have come in and made an impact, including Ke鈥橪ani Chun, who蘑菇视频 primarily been the Mikes鈥� designated player. Chun has a .273 batting average.
Carmichaels doesn鈥檛 have Chartiers-Houston in its section anymore because the Lady Bucs moved up to Class 2A after the teams split four epic games last season, but they still benefit from playing a difficult section slate.
Two other WPIAL Class A contenders are in Section 2, West Greene and Jefferson-Morgan. The Lady Mikes won the first meetings 9-1 against West Greene and 3-2 over Jefferson-Morgan.
The rematches are set for May 1 at Jefferson-Morgan and May 5 at West Greene.
鈥淲est Greene and Jefferson-Morgan are very good teams,鈥� Briggs said. 鈥淭hose two can match up well with pretty much every team in Class A.鈥�