Tigers Edged In Pitcher’s Duel With Raiders, 1-0
The North Allegheny softball team’s six-game winning streak was snapped on Tuesday evening with a 1-0 home loss to top-ranked Seneca Valley. The contest was a pitcher’s duel between NA sophomore Sammy Plotsko and SV sophomore Lexie Hames.
Scoreless after five innings, Seneca Valley scratched across the game’s only run in the top of the sixth on a two-out RBI double by Kara Pasquale for a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, North Allegheny tallied its first hit of the game when McKenna Rowlands laid down a perfect bunt single to reach base with one out. After Hames struck out the next batter, Rowlands stole second but was left stranded as Hames struck out another NA batter to end the threat. That’s as close as the Tigers came to tying the game against Hames, who struck out a career-high 20 batters in a complete game, one-hitter.
Despite taking the loss, Plotsko was also impressive in the pitcher’s circle and retired 12 batters in a row at one point in the game and yielded only one hit through the first five innings. Finishing with three strikeouts and no walks in seven innings of work, Plotsko was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game.
Following the loss, North Allegheny falls to 14-5 overall and 11-4 in Section 1-6A, while Seneca Valley improves to 15-1 overall and 14-1 in the section. The Tigers will visit Norwin in the section finale on Wednesday afternoon.
Box Score - Softball vs. Seneca Valley - 05/09/2023
| Score by Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seneca Valley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| North Allegheny | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |