Burrell rides early offense, Armstrong’s arm into PIAA softball quarterfinals

By: Michael Love
Monday, June 6, 2022 | 8:47 PM

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ERIE — It was déjà vu for the Burrell softball team Monday afternoon in its PIAA Class 4A first-round game against District 10 champion Villa Maria Academy at Penn State Behrend.

The Bucs scored three times in the first inning of last Tuesday’s consolation-game victory over Montour that clinched a berth in the state tournament.

This time around, Burrell gave junior standout Katie Armstrong two runs of support in the first inning against the Victors. But unlike the game against Montour, the Bucs added on.

They scored two runs in the fourth and two more for good measure in the seventh. Armstrong allowed just one hit and struck out 17 as Burrell scored a 6-0 victory.

“This is so exciting,” said senior shortstop Caroline Dynka, who collected three of Burrell’s 10 hits and scored two runs in the triumph that put the Bucs at 14-2 overall and sends them to Thursday’s quarterfinal round and a shot at WPIAL champion Beaver Area (20-0).

“We got a jump from early on, and the hitting was contagious,” Dynka said. “It kept rolling. We had so much confidence as the game went on, and we had all the confidence in the world in Katie.”

As the offense had one of its strongest hitting performances in several weeks, the defense was solid when it needed to be behind Armstrong with no errors in five chances.

Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup against Beaver will be at a site and time to be determined. But the Bucs players, coaches and fans know it will be somewhere in the WPIAL, far closer than the 2-hour, 15-minute trip to Erie on Monday.

Burrell won a PIAA playoff game for the first time since 2011, when it picked up victories over District 9 champ Moniteau and District 6 runner-up Central Cambria in the Class AA first round and quarterfinals, respectively.

“We can’t wait for Thursday and see if we can keep going,” Dynka said.

Armstrong’s 17 strikeouts give her 242 for the season in 113 innings over 16 games. She didn’t walk a batter.

“My change-up was definitely on today, as was my curve ball and screwball,” Armstrong said. “All my pitches really worked, and I had great defense behind me. I knew they were a good-hitting team, but I just knew I had to come ready to pitch like it was nothing new.”

For Villa Maria, Monday’s game marked the final athletic event in the 130 years for the all-girls parochial school. The school will merge with the all-boys Cathedral Prep starting with the upcoming academic year. The Victors finished their season at 17-4.

“We talked about it a lot collectively that we’re the last team that’s putting on a Villa uniform,” Villa coach Bri Curtis said. “We made history winning District 10 in the last year and being a Region 5 champion. We’re incredibly proud of that. We wanted to make a run, but it just didn’t work out.”

Villa’s lone hit of the game came in the bottom of the third as designated player Addisyn Biel singled to deep right-center.

But Armstrong came back and struck out No. 9 batter Lilli Beuchert and leadoff hitter Hayley Dever to prevent any sort of Victors rally.

Only two other batters managed to get on base. Armstrong hit No. 2 hitter Annabella Cipalla with two outs in the sixth, and a wild pitch on a called third strike allowed No. 7 hitter Emalie Dudenhoeffner to reach in the bottom of the fifth.

Armstrong left no doubt in the bottom of the seventh, striking out the side to finish off the victory.

“She is just a great athlete and great pitcher,” Curtis said. “We knew we were going to have to show up, make contact and put the ball in play. We just didn’t.”

The Burrell offense made contact often. In addition to Dynka’s three-hit effort, freshman cleanup hitter and second baseman Pyper Ferres went 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored, and freshman third baseman Bray Jones was 2 for 3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

Armstrong, junior center fielder Alanna Miller and junior left fielder Abby Larko also produced singles.

Freshman Bella Stewart drove in a run in the seventh with a sacrifice fly to right.

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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