NA Slow-Pitch Falls In Semifinals
After big wins on Saturday over ninth-seeded Seneca Valley and top-seeded Mt. Pleasant, North Allegheny moved on to the semifinals to play fifth-seeded Montour. The Lady Tigers were vying for their fourth WPISL title in the league’s eighth year of existence, but NA’s run came to an end with a 19-14 loss to the Spartans.
The bats took a while to wake up, and the defense allowed 10 runs in the second inning (all unearned), and the Tigers trailed 16-4 after two innings. The deficit increased to 17-4 after three innings. Other teams might have quit at this point, but not the Lady Tigers. NA sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth inning and scored eight runs (all earned) to close the gap to 17-12. To their credit, the Tigers’ defense allowed Montour just four runs over the last four innings but the initial outburst was too much to recover from. The final score was 19-14 in favor of Montour.
Leading the Tigers attack offensively was Lauren Randolph with a 3 for 4 performance, including a three-run homerun and two runs scored. Randolph was 9 for 10 with nine RBI’s and seven runs scored and 16 total bases in the three-game playoffs. Of her nine hits, Randolph posted two doubles, a three-run homer and grand slam. Kristen Kovalchik was 2 for 3 with a double, triple, one RBI and one run scored in the game against Montour. Alexis Kruth added a three-run homer over the right-centerfield fence. Emily Barbus smacked a solo homer over the right field fence. Carly Martin was 2 for 2 as a sub and played solid defense at third base.
It was a good season for North Allegheny, and even though the coaching staff will hate to see its eight seniors go (Katelyn Cerutti, Autumn Devine, Alexx “Frosty” Grumski, Sarah Olesnovich, Alyssa Stalter, Ashley Tresky, Marlee Tyler and Sarah Wetzel), the team will be in good hands with all of the talent coming back next year.