Girls athlete of the week

// The Post-Gazette’s top female performer from the past seven days

The past week: Brunson had six hits, including four doubles, in three Mount Pleasant softball games from April 16-19. Check this out: Brunson, a senior third baseman, is one of the WPIAL’s top players and one of the league’s leading hitters. After Monday’s victory against McGuffey, Brunson was hitting .615 with 12 doubles, 4 home runs and 25 RBIs in 10 games. Brunson is a fouryear starter and her father, Chris, is Mount Pleasant’s coach. Haylie’s younger sister, Krista, a sophomore, is a starting outfielder for the Vikings. Haylie has signed to play at Pitt next year.

You’ve played pretty much every infield position except first base during your career. What’s your favorite? I’d say third base. I guess I like the hot corner.

OK, then what’s the hardest to play in the infield? I’d say somewhere on the left side. You have to have range to play shortstop, and even third base. And you have to have a good arm to get the throw from third.

Your team has lost in the WPIAL championship once, the semifinals once and the state semifinals twice. Is this the best team you’ve been on? A state championship has been our goal all season, especially the seniors. Going through those losses our freshman and sophomore years, it was really hard to take. But it lit a fire under our butts. We’ve hit the weights hard in the past year and we’ve done things to sharpen our skills to come out on top this time.

What’s it really like to have your sister on the team and your dad coaching. Is it nice or kind of hard? It’s kind of both ways. I really enjoy having my sister on the team and my dad as coach, but my dad can be harder on me and my sister than anyone else.

So, do you and your sister ever fight over clothes? Yes, all the time (laugh). I’ll have an outfit laid out on my bed for the next day, and the next thing I know, she’ll have it on.

You made a verbal commitment to Louisiana-Lafayette as a freshman. Why the change to Pitt? First off, I realized I could be a little more close to home, so my family could come to watch me play. Then I went on a visit to Pitt and I loved the coaches, the facilities and just the whole team culture. I realized that’s where I wanted to be.

What’s something you did during COVID-19 the past year that you wouldn’t have done otherwise? Well, I tried to learn how to cook because I’m not too good at it (laugh). It didn’t go so well.