Southmoreland softball wants to build off recent success

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 | 3:48 PM

Southmoreland softball made strong WPIAL playoff runs in each of the past three seasons.

The Scotties advanced to the semifinals twice, including last season, and to the quarterfinal round once.

With seven returning letterwinners, coach Todd Bunner expects his team to be highly competitive in section play and emerge as a serious contender for the WPIAL Class 3A championship.

“Our goal in every year is to win our section, win the WPIAL, make it to the PIAA playoffs and win a state title,” Bunner said. “Those are again our goals.

“We will be working on team unity and communication during preseason practices, along with getting pitching, hitting, throwing and catching repetitions.”

Southmoreland's returning letterwinners consist of seniors Bethany Bunner (OF) and Alexei Belzer (DH), juniors Lexi Klatt (IF) and Maegan Shetterly (OF), sophomore catcher Charity Henderson and sophomore infielders Faith Miller and Courtney Myers.

They will be complemented by freshman Emily Eutsey, sophomore Abby Fullem and seniors Alayna Perbonish and Michaele Burke in the infield, junior outfielder Hannah Corvin and Jess Matheny, a left-handed freshman pitcher.

“Jess will be one of our pitchers who gets a lot of innings,” said Bunner, the Scotties' fifth-year coach. “She has a good fastball and two other pitches she throws well.”

Bethany Bunner, a second-year team captain who plays center field, is a three-time all-section selection. She hit .343 and scored 14 runs last season, and has made only two errors in the last two years.

“My expectations for this team are very high,” she said. “I see us going to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. We have a solid hitting team, probably one of the best hitting teams of my high school career.”

Bethany is a multisport athlete. She was a three-year letterwinner in volleyball, including an all-section selection last season. She also played basketball for two years. Bunner owns a 3.86 GPA.

“I volunteer my time coaching our middle school volleyball team,” she said. “I'm very involved and interested in art, and painting, drawing and creating sculptures is mostly what I do in my free time.”

Southmoreland's coach, Todd Bunner, is Bethany's dad.

“Being coached by my dad is hard, yet also a blessing,” Bethany said. “He knows what I'm capable of and pushes me to be better. My dad has taught me to never be satisfied with results, and there are always improvements to be made.”

One of Bethany's goals this season is to become the first softball player in school history to earn all-section honors four times.

“I also am working extremely hard to make all-state this year and follow in my sister's footsteps,” she said.

Bethany's sister, Briana, is a sophomore outfielder at Robert Morris. Bethany plans to attend IUP for art education and is considering playing softball and/or volleyball.

Klatt, a third-year catcher for the Scotties, hit .375 and had a .500 on-base percentage last season. She accounted for 15 runs, 14 RBIs and 10 stolen bases, and she has a 4.1 GPA.

“My expectations are to go to the playoffs again, and hopefully be able to play in states,” said Klatt, who will see playing time at shortstop and as a pitcher. “We have really good (team) chemistry because we have played together for so long. And we have strong bats to bring to the plate.”

Shetterly finished last season with a .340 batting average and .476 on-base percentage, and Miller hit .304 and struck out only once in 56 at-bats.

Defensively, Myers committed just one error in 73 innings.

Southmoreland posted 11-8, 13-3 and 13-5 records the past three seasons.

After defeating Riverside, 16-0, and South Allegheny, 8-3, in the first two rounds of the WPIAL playoffs in '17, the Scotties lost to Ellwood City, 3-1, in the semifinal round, and to South Park, 4-3, in the third-place consolation game.

Ellwood City went on to win the WPIAL title; South Park captured the state champion.

Katie Troisi-Clark set the Southmoreland softball record for career wins (28) last season.

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

Tags: Southmoreland