Powerhouse Mount Pleasant dropping down to Class 3A
When the WPIAL released its new softball section alignments for the 2021-22 seasons on May 18, Mount Pleasant was one of the most notable movers.
The Vikings won a WPIAL Class 4A championship in 2016 and a PIAA Class 4A championship in 2017, but they may have been even more dominant the past two years, even with no WPIAL or state titles to show for it.
Mount Pleasant went undefeated in the regular season in 2018 and 2019, even earning a No. 13 national ranking according to MaxPreps along the way, only to suffer a narrow defeat in last year’s WPIAL title game as well as backto-back losses in the PIAA semifinals. Although the Vikings may have wanted another crack at defending champion Elizabeth Forward in Class 4A, they will now have to focus their attention elsewhere — Class 3A, to be specific.
“As far as [Class] 3A, there are good teams,” second-year coach Chris Brunson said. “The Ellwood City’s and North Catholic’s, I know those teams all usually have pretty good programs. There are good teams in every classification. You don’t know how it’s going to shake.”
As Mount Pleasant’s athletic director as well as its softball coach, Brunson knew since November or December that enrollment figures would place his team just below the cutoff for Class 4A in the 2021-22 cycle. Once the COVID-19 pandemic forced the PIAA to cancel the 2020 spring sports seasons, he knew any shot at redemption against the Warriors would have to be put on hold for at least the next two years.
“I try to teach the kids, ‘Just worry about your own stuff and not worry about other teams or who you’re playing,’” Brunson said. “If you play against the execution of the game, you’re probably going to be pretty successful and pretty consistent.”
The Vikings now reside in Class 3A Section 3, where their new rivals will be eager to prove themselves against one of the WPIAL’s emerging powerhouses.
“Competition-wise, I think it will be about the same,” Brunson said. “South Allegheny had a really good year in 2019, and Southmoreland is always good.”
Much like Mount Pleasant, Beaver is a team many expected to contend for a WPIAL title this year that will have to prepare for a change in classification next season — although the Bobcats will be plenty familiar with their competition.
In her first season as head coach in 2018, Amy Haggart led Beaver to a 12-1 regular-season record in Class 4A and a trip to the WPIAL quarterfinals, only to have the storybook season spoiled by Elizabeth Forward. Last year, the Bobcats dropped down to Class 3A and again won 12 regular-season games, only to fall once again in the WPIAL quarterfinals.
Haggart and her players were anticipating a much deeper postseason run in Class 3A this season, but will instead resume their quest for a WPIAL Class 4A title starting in 2021.
“We kind of knew it was going to happen, so we weren’t really that shocked about it,” Haggart said. “But we didn’t really get to do in [Class] 3A what we wanted to do this year.”
Beaver will lose standout seniors to graduation in pitcher Allie Teagle and infielder Lexi Dawson, but with a plethora of starters returning in 2021, Haggart doesn’t seem too worried about her team moving back up to its former classification.
“We’re ready for it. These kids, when they were freshmen, we were in [Class] 4A, so they know what it’s about,” Haggart said. “A couple of them actually were starters as a freshman. Bailey Nicol, our shortstop, she had that experience of losing in the playoffs against Elizabeth Forward, so I think she’s hungry and ready to get that back, too.”
Meanwhile, only 11 teams will compete in Class 6A in 2021 compared to 16 teams in 2019, bringing Class 5A’s total to 26 teams. Upper St. Clair coach Bill Aguglia, whose Panthers will drop down from Class 6A to Class 5A, doesn’t expect things to get any easier for his group.
“The thing about softball … there’s a lot of strong teams in the lower classifications from [Class] 5A all the way down to [Class] 1A,” Aguglia said. “It is what it is.”