West Allegheny comes up shy in title game
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — West Allegheny certainly didn’t want to find itself in the position it was in Thursday.
Not down multiple runs late in the game.
But even for a team that had lost just once all season and was playing in the state final for the first time, this wasn’t uncharted territory.
Just a few days earlier, the Indians needed a late rally just to be able to make a joyful trip to Happy Valley.
“We talk to our kids about fighting and never giving up. There’s always that hope,” West Allegheny coach Mindi McFate said.
This time, though, a team that had reached new heights this season came up just short.
West Allegheny trailed by four runs in the seventh inning, but loaded the bases and had the tying run at the plate before falling to Lampeter-Strasburg, 6-2, in the PIAA Class 5A championship at Nittany Lion Softball Park.
Down to its final three outs of the season, West Allegheny’s odds of pulling off a stunning comeback looked bleak. But Amy Nolte led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and Angela Costa followed with one of her own. After Taylor Goldstrohm flied out to center, Taylor Cummings singled to load the bases. That brought up star third baseman Mackenzie Partyka, the team’s cleanup hitter who had an outstanding season.
“I knew she was the person I would put in there,” said West Allegheny pitcher Ashley Seamon. “Not just because I thought she could be successful at that time, but I thought that she was the person who deserved to be there in that moment.”
Unfortunately for West Allegheny, Partyka grounded into a 5-23 double play, and the Indians saw their season end with a record of 23-2.
Lampeter-Strasburg (23-5), located near Lancaster, captured its first PIAA title after falling in the title game two years earlier.
A West Allegheny team that had won 18 games in a row and scored 24 runs its first three PIAA playoff games struggled offensively. That’s not to say the Indians didn’t hit the ball hard or didn’t have any chances. They had seven hits and did not have any hitters retired by strikeout, but the Indians had a difficult time coming through with the big hits when they needed them most.
Lampeter-Strasburg pitcher Brynne Baker held West Allegheny to just two singles through the first three innings, but the Indians offense began to show life in the fourth inning.
“It was definitely nerves, but I think as soon we got into our flow and knew, ‘Hey, we’re down, but we can come back.’ I think that definitely calmed us down and we were able to adjust and adapt in that way,” Partyka said.
Partyka was hit by a pitch and
Britney Wilson doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. But no runs followed, only a groundout and a double play.
There was still time, and West Allegheny began to take advantage of it in the fifth. After Megan Pollinger and Nolte reached on errors, Costa cracked an RBI single to put West Allegheny on the board. With one out, Cummings walked to load the bases, and Partyka came through with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2. Britney Wilson popped out to end the inning.
Very quickly, that onerun deficit inflated to three once again when Summer Peters smoked a two-run single by the glove of West Allegheny first basemen Jillian Weber to put LampeterStrasburg ahead 5-2. The Pioneers added another run in the seventh on a home runby Gabby Drumm.
“We came back like we have done many times. After giving up runs, score more,” said Lampeter-Strasburg coach Gene Charles.
The loss obviously wasn’t easy on the West Allegheny players and coaches, but there weren’t many tears afterwards, but rather lots of smiles and hugs.
“We had a very successful season,” Seamon said. “I’m proud of this team. This loss stings right now, but as a whole this season was a success.