Final tests
Class 4A softball: Unbeaten Beaver can put cap on ‘surreal’ season
The Beaver softball team already has made history by becoming the first in program history to make it to a state championship.
But this is also a “perfect” time for Beaver to make WPIAL history.
Beaver takes an undefeated 20-0 record into Thursday’s PIAA Class 4A title game at Penn State’s Beard Field. The Bobcats will play Tunkhannock, a Northeast Pennsylvania school in Wyoming County. If Beaver wins, it would join an elite group of WPIAL teams.
Since the PIAA played its first softball championship in 1975, only four WPIAL teams have won a state championship with a perfect record. Beaver has the drive to make it five.
“The undefeated record adds a lot more to it,” Beaver coach Amy Haggart said. “Being the first team from Beaver to get to this point and to do it undefeated, it’s surreal. You look back and we did not have a season last year ( because of COVID-19). We had an awesome team and felt we could’ve done it last year as well. But what grit these girls have. They just have no quit in them.”
In 46 years of PIAA championships, the only WPIAL teams to finish with a perfect record are Hempfield in 2017, Canevin in 1999, Carmichaels in 1998 and Leechburg in 1992.
An undefeated record is something that some teams won’t talk about as the season goes along. It’s almost a taboo thing. But when you’re one win away from a state championship, and one win away from the finish of a perfect storm, the subject comes up more often.
“I think in the media, the (undefeated) record comes up more,” Haggart said. “But I think now the team really realizes it after (Monday’s semifinal victory against Highlands). It’s like, ‘This is really happening. We have a chance to win it and finish undefeated.’”
Haggart is a former player at New Brighton and she has seen former teammates become Beaver fans. A number of people from Beaver and other places are jumping on the Bobcats bandwagon.
“People I haven’t talked to in years are calling, and calling the girls to congratulate them,” Haggart said. “You look at all the
things on Facebook and Twitter. There has just been an outpouring of support at our games. People are showing up at games that you haven’t seen in years, like cousins, aunts and uncles of players and former players.”
Beaver feels confident no matter who it plays — and one of the main reasons is Payton List. The Bobcats’ junior pitcher is having a terrific season — both pitching and hitting.
List pitched a one-hitter in Monday’s 4- 0 victory against Highlands and struck out 15. For the season, List, a Virginia Tech recruit, is 19-0 and averages almost two strikeouts an inning. In six postseason games, she has allowed only 18 hits and struck out 66. She also leads the team in hitting with an average above .400. Mackenzie Boyd also is hitting above .400.
The title game could turn into a pitchers duel because Tunkhannock also has a topnotch pitcher in Kaya Hannon, who is 23-2 with a 1.44 ERA and has 234 strikeouts in 155⅔ innings. Tunkhannock has allowed only one run in three PIAA playoff games.
Tunkhannock is a team that features some talented sophomores. Hannon is only a sophomore and the Tigers have three sophomores hitting above .400 — Paige Marabell (.429), Gabby Wood (.419) and Ella McNeff (.413). Marabell has nine home runs and 32 RBIs. Senior Nicole Howell is batting .405 with 30 RBIs.
“One of the things I always say to these girls is go into every game confident, but don’t go in cocky,” Haggart said. “When I think this team is down and doesn’t have much left, I don’t know where they find it, but they find it.
“It’s the same with Peyton. I keep on saying in these playoffs that she just pitched her best game. Then she comes out and pitches a better one. (The semifinal game against Highlands) might have been her best showing yet.”
Here is a look at the four other WPIAL teams that won state championships with an undefeated record:
1992 Leechburg (24-0): The Blue Devils won the state title under legendary coach Jim Oberdorf, who went on to win more than 500 games at the school. In the title game, Jennifer Wolfe was the winning pitcher for Leechburg against Springfield (Montco) at Shippensburg University. Leechburg trailed, 1-0, after four innings, but scored two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh to pull out a 4-1 win. Springfield committed three costly errors.
1998 Carmichaels (260): This team was led by pitcher Nikki Gasti, who threw gas. She finished the season with a 24-0 record, including a one-hitter against South Williamsport in the PIAA title game, won by Carmichaels, 5-2. Gasti finished the season with 293 strikeouts and allowed only seven runs. She finished her career with a 58-4 record.
In the title game, Carmichaels overcame five errors to win. The Mikes trailed, 2-1, before taking the lead in the fifth inning. Megan Bandish’s RBI triple tied the score and Dee Dee Watson’s single scored the go-ahead run.
1999 Canevin (25-0): Bob Jacoby was also Canevin’s football coach, but he won a state championship in softball as the Crusaders’ coach. Canevin was led by senior pitcher Robyn DeFife, who transferred from CanonMcMillan after her sophomore year.
Canevin finished 25-0 and DeFife won every game. DeFife had three shutouts in four PIAA games and beat Kutztown, 1-0, in the title game at Shippensburg University. She pitched a three-hitter in the contest and Canevin scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth on a throwing error.
2018 Hempfield (27-0): The Spartans won their second of three consecutive PIAA titles. All of them came under legendary coach Bob Kalp.
This Hempfield team featured star pitcher Morgan Ryan, a Notre Dame recruit who was named the Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year. She finished with a 1.00 ERA and averaged 9.95 strikeouts a game. Hempfield also had a strong team offensively, with nine players hitting above .400. Autumn Beasley led with seven home runs. Hempfield won the championship with a 5-3 victory against Hazleton at Penn State.