Late, 2-out rally by Blue Mountain denies Montour its 1st PIAA softball title

By: Paul Schofield
Thursday, June 15, 2023 | 5:26 PM

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UNIVERSITY PARK — Montour could taste its first PIAA softball title.

The Spartans were four outs away from celebrating, but Blue Mountain had other ideas.

The District 11 champions scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, all with two outs, and rallied to defeat the WPIAL runner-up Spartans, 3-2, to earn their first PIAA Class 4A title at Penn State’s Beard Park.

Montour (18-5) led 2-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning when Blue Mountain (24-4) went to work.

“It was sort of an avalanche at the end,” Montour coach Ken Kutchman said. “They got hits in the right spots. They didn’t hit anything hard. It’s hard to express. We tried to stop it but didn’t get an out.”

Lindsay Gibson drew a walk with one out to get things started for Blue Mountain. She moved to second on a two-out single by pitcher Marla Freiwald.

“One thing led to another,” Montour pitcher Kaitlin Molitoris said. “It was the third time around against me. It was disappointing. I still felt we had chance in the last inning.”

Paige Bergan singled home Gibson, and Olivia Labe followed with a single to center to tie the score. The throw to the plate got away from catcher Danielle Terpack for an error, allowing the winning run to score.

“I thought we were right there,” Blue Mountain coach Mike Rollman said. “She was pounding the zone and making us work.

“A couple times we gave in and didn’t give ourselves a chance to get on base. We challenged her when we had two strikes and don’t give in. We did that in the sixth, especially Paige and Olivia. They came through big time.”

Labe added: “I was thinking that I need to get a hit, with a big one or little one. I needed my runners to work with me. We talked in the huddle that I was going to get a hit and you need to score.”

Freiwald hadn’t allowed a run in three previous PIAA games — shutout wins against Swenson, Jersey Shore and Northwestern Lehigh — but Montour ended that scoreless streak at 21 in the fifth inning by taking a 2-0 lead.

Shania Cope began the inning with her second single of the game. After Blue Mountain failed to catch a pop-up in foul territory between third base and home plate, Molitoris ripped a double to left.

“It was great to hit for the team, not just pitch,” Molitoris said. “I got a second chance when they misplayed the pop-up.”

Courtesy runner Ava Bartel then scored on a triple off the center-field fence by Terpack.

Montour, however, wasted a bigger inning after Hailey Staub bunted for a hit. After Freiwald retired Delaney Barto, Mia Arndt walked to load the bases. But Freiwald got Giacinta Labrie to fly out to short left and struck out Aerie Polo to end the inning.

Freiwald allowed six hits, walked one and struck out 10, including her 200th of the season.

“Getting out of that jam was huge,” Rollman said. “She fell behind in some counts in that inning, and they took advantage of it.”

Kutchman said: “That killed us. We had an opportunity to open things up and didn’t come though at the right time. We came up with the top of the order, and they had produced all year. This time, it didn’t work out.”

This was the second time Montour had reached the championship game. It lost to Pennsburg, 1-0, in 2001.

“We graduate three seniors,” Kutchman said. “We have some big shoes to fill.”

The biggest shoes belong to Molitoris. She recorded her 200th strike out of the season among her seven in the game. She allowed four hits and walked five.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

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