Commodores hang on for win
Frazier erases painful memories from 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For 6⅓ innings Friday night in the Frazier’s 6-5 PIAA Class 2A softball championship victory against Brandywine Heights, it seemed like it just wasn’t Mackenzie Kelly’s day.
First, Frazier’s junior right fielder got a bad read on a line drive down the line in the bottom of the third inning and two runs came home to score, trimming the Commodores’ lead to two. The Bullets then sliced back-to-back doubles down the line in the fifth inning to tie the score, with the first going right over Kelly’s head and the second bouncing off the tip of her glove.
“I was like, ‘OK, I have to do something,’” Kelly said.
Then, with the bases loaded with one out and Frazier clinging to its 6-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, Kelly got her chance.
Brandywine Heights’ Jadyn Richards hit a fly ball to shallow right field, and Kelly made the routine catch for the second out of the inning. Meanwhile, Haley Hertzog tagged up at third base, then tried to score as soon as Kelly caught it.
But Kelly fired a laser to home plate in plenty of time for catcher Juliann Johnson to tag out Hertzog to end the game, bringing the Commodores (21-4) their first PIAA softball championship with a thrilling victory.
“I got the ball, and then I looked to my center fielder, and she’s yelling at me, everyone’s yelling, ‘Shoot four.’ So I just threw it, and it couldn’t have been any better.”
After winning its first WPIAL championship in 2017, Frazier made it back to the WPIAL title game in 2018 and again this year, only to lose to Laurel both times. The loss last season especially haunted Commodores coach Don Hartman, who said the memory of the defeat regularly woke him up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.
In that game, his daughter, Logan, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but gave up a triple and a double as Frazier lost, 1-0.
Now, his daughter — who pitched a complete game shutout in the 2017 WPIAL championship as a freshman — has an even bigger accomplishment to her name after striking out 10 to earn the win in the state championship.
“It’s safe to say [the memory is erased],” Don Hartman said.
Logan Hartman had been one of the best pitchers in the WPIAL all season, but she didn’t have her usual dominant stuff in the biggest game. That nearly cost the Commodores against the Bullets’ highpowered lineup, but some timely hitting helped Frazier pick up the slack.
“It’s like a dream,” Logan Hartman said. “I don’t feel like I’m living this right now because we’ve worked since last November until now for this moment. It’s just so surreal. To be able to play and win in the state championship is just incredible. I’m so proud of our team. We worked so hard for this.”
The Commodores got the scoring started early with two runs in each of the first two innings, then took a 5-1 lead after scoring another in the third — all of which came with two outs. But Brandywine Heights steadily battled back to tie the score, racking up nine hits off Frazier’s ace.
Logan Hartman came up to the plate with center fielder Megan Celeschi on second base in the top of the sixth, and Celeschi came home to score after Bullets second baseman Nicole Longacre couldn’t handle Hartman’s sharply hit ground ball.
That gave the Commodores a 6-5 lead and set the stage for Kelly’s heroics in the bottom of the seventh.
“Mackenzie is a really tough kid and doesn’t let things get to her,” Don Hartman said. “She’s probably the most happy-go-lucky kid that I’ve coached in years.
“She’s the girl that comes to practice every day with a smile on her face. I call her Sunshine. That’s actually her nickname. She never got down on herself.”