Plum softball team making final playoff push

By: Michael Love
Sunday, May 1, 2022 | 10:01 AM

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Despite a sometimes-rocky trip through the Section 1-5A schedule this spring, the Plum softball team still was alive for a WPIAL playoff spot as it entered its home stretch of games.

“It’s been a progression throughout the season, and the girls have dealt with a lot, from injuries to a number of younger players getting up to speed on varsity for the first time and players moving around to different positions,” said coach Phil DiLonardo, whose Mustangs were 3-6 in section play and 3-9 overall through a tough 6-1 loss at section rival Kiski Area last week.

“In one of the games against Indiana, seven of the nine players on defense weren’t starters last year.”

Plum swept Indiana and routed Woodland Hills in section play and was on the cusp of topping Kiski Area when the teams met for the first time April 6.

The Mustangs led 4-1 heading to the seventh, but the Cavaliers scored four times in the top of the seventh to pull out the dramatic victory.

“That was a tough loss,” DiLonardo said. “That would’ve gone a long way in putting us in a better position, but I told the girls that they had to fight through that and look forward to what was ahead.”

Plum was to travel to Penn Hills on Wednesday in a crucial must-win scenario as the teams found themselves in a fight for the fourth playoff spot in the section standings.

The Mustangs were scheduled to face winless Woodland Hills on Thursday and hoped to pull an upset at home Friday as it matched up with section leader Armstrong.

“Armstrong and Franklin Regional at the top is a pretty good 1-2 punch,” DiLonardo said.

Penn Hills fell to 3-5 in the section after forfeiting its second game to Kiski Area. Before the season, the Penn Hills School District stated it would not play Kiski Area teams this spring, and the decision was borne out of what it said was racial taunts allegedly made by Cavaliers fans during a middle school volleyball game in early March.

Junior Makenzie Lang, DiLonardo said, has battled through shoulder issues and has received physical therapy.

Lang exclusively was at first base last year and hit .348 with eight home runs and 26 RBIs and earned Valley News Dispatch first-team all-star honors.

She has taken on pitching duties this spring, and because of her shoulder, she has shared the circle with freshman Dani Pici.

“Makenzie’s issues kind of started back in the first scrimmage, and it’s been an ongoing thing, but she’s battled as best she can and has given us a lot on the field and through her leadership,” DiLonardo said.

Pici also is the No. 1 catcher in her first varsity campaign.

“Like Makenzie, Dani is not really a pitcher, but they’re both doing a job we needed them to do,” DiLonardo said.

“We’ve had Maura Marston pitch a little, too. She’s a senior, but she hasn’t pitched since seventh grade.”

Lang had one of her better outings in the pitching circle at Kiski Area last week as she struck out six, allowed six hits and walked six while surrendering four earned runs in the 6-1 loss.

She allowed just one run on two hits over the first four innings before the Cavaliers broke through for a pair of unearned runs in the fifth and the final three runs in the sixth.

Lang and Pici led the team in hitting at .423 and .412, respectively, after the loss to Kiski Area.

Lang singled in her first at-bat against the Cavaliers and then walked three times, while Pici went 2 for 4 with her team’s lone RBI.

Experienced senior Ashley Polakovic started her final varsity season strong at shortstop and at the plate before suffering a thumb injury that ended her season after three games. She batted .417 with five hits in 12 at-bats before being sidelined.

“Because of her injury, we had been scrambling to put people in positions they don’t normally play, and it’s a ripple effect of sorts,” DiLonardo said. “We’ve missed Ashley’s glove and her bat.”

Freshman Bella Tavella moved from left field to shortstop. With Pici pitching, senior Jaralyn Kincaid, who played third last year and is there this year, is also catching. Lang has served as the designated player on a couple of occasions.

“A lot of us are in new positions or playing varsity for the first time, but we’re all in this together and have been bonding throughout the season,” Lang said. “No matter what has happened, we’re still fighting.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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