Freshmen bolster lineup for Shaler softball team

By: Josh Rizzo
Friday, May 17, 2019 | 7:17 AM

Misfortune late in the season made the road through the postseason a little more difficult for the Shaler Area softball team.

A stray pitch hit all-section shortstop Tori Martrano, giving her a concussion that forced the junior to miss the Titans’ WPIAL Class 5A playoff opener last Thursday.

Results from Shaler’s game against West Allegheny were too late for this edition. What the Titans were planning to get a glimpse of was their future.

Three freshmen — Cam Murphy, Megan Povich and Kayleigh Newland — were all in the starting lineup against the Indians.

“I’m looking for the kids to take advantage of the situation and get the experience from the games,” Shaler coach Tom Sorce said. “That way they won’t have the deer-in-the headlight look next year. They need to get used to being in big games.”

The Titans showed their grit down the stretch. Shaler (11-7) won nine of its final 12 games to place third in Section 2.

“We finished strong,” Sorce said. “That’s all you can ask. They stayed focused all the way through the season. We want to keep them focused with graduation and the prom coming up.”

Hunter Gray, Ella Richards, Kelsey Cordera, Leah Schoenian, Julia Eaton, Skyler Tortorea and Meghan Lacy also started for Shaler against West Allegheny.

What helped the Titans was how they played behind their pitching.

“We played good defense,” Sorce said. “We gave up some runs, but they hit the ball pretty good and stayed in every game until the fifth inning.”

After a year being out of the playoffs, the Titans were anxious to try and climb toward a WPIAL title.

While Shaler didn’t have its whole roster behind it, Sorce knows there are a number of possibilities still ahead of them.

“Anything can happen in the playoffs,” Sorce said. “I’ve seen it before when my daughter played. They weren’t the best team, and for one game they were. One bad inning here or there for either team can put you out. We are fighting some injuries.”

Tags: Shaler