Bethel Park in title game
Black Hawks eliminate Rams, 9-0
Before Wednesday’s WPIAL Class 6A semifinal game between Bethel Park and Pine-Richland, much of the talk in the press box centered around Black Hawks senior Reagan Milliken’s reputation as one of the most feared hitters in the WPIAL.
Entering the game batting .682 with 11 home runs and 36 RBIs, Milliken picked a bad time to have arguably her worst game of the season. The Ohio State recruit was 1 for 4 with an RBI single in her last at-bat after striking out in each of her first three trips to the plate. Luckily for Milliken and Bethel Park, these Black Hawks are much more than just a one-player army.
Pine-Richland found that out on Wednesday.
Spurred by some timely hitting from Gianna Sciullo and Sandra Soltes and a complete game shutout by Delaney Nagy, top-seeded Bethel Park (17-0) kept its perfect season alive with a 90 win against the Rams (9-9) at West Mifflin High School. Sciullo, a Georgetown recruit, finished 2 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and a pair of RBIs, while Soltes, a Pitt recruit, hit a 2-run home run to put the game out of reach.
The Black Hawks will face section rival Canon-McMillan in the WPIAL Class 6A championship game next Thursday at California (Pa.).
“It’s surreal,” Sciullo said. “I think we have just an unbelievable group of girls. We’ve never had this kind of chemistry before. We all play so well together.
“It’s not one person leading our team, it’s a whole.”
Pine-Richland pitcher Gabriella Aughton, a Boston
College recruit, had an impressive showing despite taking the loss, striking out 11 batters in one of the WPIAL’s best lineups.
“She’s really good,” said Bethel Park coach Heather Semplice-Scott. “I knew we had to score. I didn’t think just one [would be enough]. Our bats came alive when we had to.”
As the Rams threatened to take an early lead by loading the bases with nobody out in the top of the first inning, Miliken showed why she’s one of the top players in the state — even when she has an off day with her bat. She retreated toward the edge of the grass to make an over-the-shoulder catch on a pop up, then turned and immediately fired home to nab Natalie Zentz at the plate for a double play.
Nagy retired the last batter of the inning to get out of the jam, then the Connecticut recruit settled into a groove and sat down the next 14 batters she faced. Meanwhile, the Black Hawks took a 2-0 lead after Sciullo came home to score on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first.
After a brief rain delay in the middle of the third inning, Sciullo delivered her second RBI single of the game to make it a 3-0 Bethel Park lead. Soltes then blasted a two-run homer down the left field line in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-0 — more than enough cushion for Nagy.
“I always swing at firstpitch strikes,” Soltes said. “I just barrelled up on it. I saw it, I wanted it, and I just went for it.”
The Black Hawks added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away.