Southmoreland beats Central Valley in the 10th and advances in playoffs

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Keera Frye in Sports // 0 Comments

At the bottom of the 10th inning, Katie Troisi-Clark, junior softball pitcher, approached the plate with bat in hand. Anxiety flowed through her veins as she realized that there were already two outs and the Scotties were down by one.

“I was pretty nervous,” said Troisi-Clark, “But I knew that as long as I got an outside pitch and took it to right field that Liv (Porter) was fast enough to score and so was Briana (Bunner).”

And they did. These two runs resulted in a 6-5 Scottie victory over Central Valley (No. 13) in the first round of the playoffs.

“We went into the game pretty confident in ourselves, but we knew that being the higher seed doesn’t necessarily guarantee a win,” said senior softball player Briana Bunner.

Last year, the Scotties were the 13th seed and defeated the 4th seed team in the playoffs. Given this experience, they were aware that it was anyone’s game and Central Valley “put up a fight.” Defensively, the Scotties excelled holding the Warriors at four runs. It took and international tie breaker in the 10th to change the 4-4 score of the past three innings.

Players agreed that their first round playoff game showed them what they need to work on as they advance in the playoffs. Their second round playoff game will be against their local rivals, Mt. Pleasant, at Latrobe on May 23.

During the regular season, the teams each won a game with close scores. Southmoreland feels the pressure as they prepare to play Mt. Pleasant but remain confident in one another and their abilities.

“We’re a tight-knit team,” said Bunner, “and I think that’s what got us to the playoffs. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we’re always able to pick each other back up and fight for a win together.”