North Allegheny sweeps Shaler
by: Slow-Pitch Softball Contributor
North Allegheny overpowered Shaler in Sunday’s regular season doubleheader, rolling to 22–1 and 31–1 wins behind a lineup that stayed hot from the first inning of Game 1 through the final swing of Game 2. The Tigers didn’t just control both games — they dictated every inning, piling up a combined 55 hits and turning the day into one of their most dominant offensive performances of the fall.
In the opener, senior Viola Laswell set the tone immediately, driving in four runs on three hits and sparking an offense that answered Shaler’s early run with a four‑run burst in the bottom of the first. Laswell’s RBI single tied it, junior Ava Combs ripped a two‑run triple to right‑center, and senior Megan Sweeney lifted a sacrifice fly to push NA ahead. From there, the Tigers controlled every inning.
The second brought six more, all built on extra‑base hits. Senior Lily Daugherty doubled in a run, Laswell followed with a two‑run double, Combs added another RBI double, and Sweeney capped the frame with a run‑scoring double. The third inning became one of NA’s biggest single‑inning outputs of the fall—10 runs on 11 hits, with senior Jordan Phillips, Laswell, Sweeney, freshman Abby Steiner, junior Evie Sattler, junior Frida Gourlay, senior Amara Daugherty, and L. Daugherty again all driving in runs as the lineup rolled without a pause. Laswell threw the first three innings with just one run allowed, and Sattler closed the final two cleanly as NA finished off a 22–1 win powered by 22 hits and relentless pressure.
The second game somehow topped it. After an early 1–1 tie, NA broke the game open in the third with nine runs on eight hits, highlighted by Steiner’s two‑run triple that cracked the inning wide open. That surge set the stage for one of the most overwhelming innings NA has produced—a 17‑run fifth that turned the game into a runaway. Combs doubled twice in the inning, Sweeney drove in two, Sattler punched home two more, Gourlay added two RBI singles, A. Daugherty doubled and singled for two, L. Daugherty doubled in two and later singled in another, Laswell added an RBI single, Steiner chipped in another, and the inning kept rolling as every hitter fed the next. L. Daugherty led the day with five hits and four RBI, while Sattler drove in five from the nine‑spot, going 4‑for‑5. North Allegheny piled up 33 hits in the nightcap, with Laswell, Olivia Smith, Sweeney, Steiner, L. Daugherty, Phillips, Combs, and Gourlay all collecting multiple hits as the lineup stayed hot from top to bottom. Laswell handled the first four innings in the circle, allowing just one run, and Sattler finished the final frame without allowing a run as NA closed out a 31–1 win.
North Allegheny will be back in action on Wednesday for a makeup doubleheader against Hempfield at Blueberry Hill Park, looking to carry this offensive momentum into the final stretch of the fall schedule.
