TEAM RANKINGS

(With last season’s record) CLASS 6A 1. Hempfield 25-2 2. North Allegheny 19-4 3. Latrobe 17-7 4. Shaler 19-2 5. Mt. Lebanon 8-8 CLASS 5A 1. West Allegheny 20-3 2. Montour 11-5 3. Franklin Regional 12-5 4. Penn-Trafford 15-6 5. Thomas Jefferson 16-3 CLASS 4A 1. Mount Pleasant 13-6 2. Yough 22-3 3. Ambridge 7-10 4. Central Valley 11-9 5. Knoch 16-4 CLASS 3A 1. Ellwood City 21-1 2. South Park 16-5 3. Burrell 11-5 4. Avonworth 14-6 5. Deer Lakes 16-5 for Notre Dame, there’s more to do than three-peat at WPIALs and repeat at PIAAs — though that’s certainly on the list. In preparation for facing top-level talent in the ACC, Ryan wants to use this year to iron out her movement pitches and work up to consistently throwing 68 mph.

“I want to obviously be successful, but I’m also using it as practice to get myself ready for the next level,” Ryan said.

By most counts, Ryan’s freshman season in 2012-13 was a good one for both her and Hempfield. She finished the year at 9-3 with a 2.68 ERA, 52 strikeouts and 24 walks in 84 innings pitched. Hempfield went 8-4 in the conference, but with three teams at 7-3, the Spartans were left out. As the starting pitcher of the first group in decades not to make the postseason, Ryan felt motivated to step up her game, she said.

She started playing travel ball at 13, but at the time of her freshman debut, hadn’t faced many 18-year-old batters yet. Kalp, who had just graduated his senior pitcher, knew Ryan would have to be the one to fill that role.

Bearing that in mind, he went and watched one of her local Little League games when she was in eighth grade.

“‘I said ‘Boy, she’s going to get nothing but better,’” Kalp said. “And she was good then.”

Not quite experienced enough, though, to dominate the big kids, Kalp said. That soon changed, as Ryan had a 0.98 ERA her sophomore season with 145 strikeouts and a 1.11 ERA her junior season