Big inning vaults Mt. Lebanon softball over Bethel Park

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, April 27, 2018 | 8:57 AM

Through four innings, Mt. Lebanon pitcher Catie Rogan was perfect, retiring all 12 batters she faced. Little did she know that, with an 8-0 cushion, she would end up needing all of those runs.

The Blue Devils nearly blew the wide lead, but held on for a 9-6 win over Bethel Park in Section 1-6A softball Thursday.

Every Mt. Lebanon player reached base in the victory, with six different batters driving in at least one run.

Senior catcher Megan Dietrick, a Gannon recruit, drove home two runs. Katie Barone, a junior, plated two more. Three Blue Devils had multi-hit games.

“I give Bethel Park a lot of credit, they're a heck of a team,” Dietrick said. “But I struggled with my first two at-bats but managed to come back around, and I was just looking for anything close to the plate that I could drive.”

Adjustments at the plate became the theme of the game. Not only did Bethel Park get to Rogan the second time through the order, but Black Hawks pitcher Abby Joyce also was perfect through the first two innings.

Mt. Lebanon (5-4, 5-3) did, however, take advantage of three Bethel Park errors in the fourth inning, scoring seven runs in the frame.

“They did a great job,” Mt. Lebanon coach Casey Phillips said. “We're not built to hit home runs. We have to grind out runs, so we have to manufacture a lineup that does just that.”

But a home run the other way is precisely what made the game interesting. Three batters after Bethel Park picked up its first hit, freshman Gianna Sciullo launched a three-run long ball that cut Mt. Lebanon's lead to 8-4.

The Black Hawks (4-5, 3-5) added two more the following inning before the Blue Devils got an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. That run proved important, as a seventh-inning Bethel Park rally ended with runners in scoring position.

“Obviously, our team is built off momentum, and we're not a big hitting team,” Dietrick said. “But, we are a team that can produce runs really easily.”

Despite a crooked line, Rogan's early efforts helped keep quiet a potent Black Hawks' lineup.

“We told our kids, from the jump, that Bethel Park is a great hitting team,” Phillips said. “They're very well coached and very smart at the plate. My hat's off to them. But Catie held it down and she puts us in position to win every game.”

The victory is important for Mt. Lebanon, which swept the rival Black Hawks for the first time since it won a WPIAL title in 2010. It also keeps the Blue Devils firmly in the mix in a deep section, while dropping Bethel Park out of the playoff picture at the moment.

“There's no dogs for us the rest of the way,” Phillips said. “You can't get comfortable. It's pressure situations, and every game is a big game.”

Josh Rowntree is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster.

Tags: Bethel Park, Mt. lebanon