Mohawk’s bats come alive in WPIAL Class 3A championship victory over South Park

By: Ted Sarneso
Friday, May 31, 2024 | 7:55 PM

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Going into the WPIAL Class 3A championship game at Lilley Field at Cal (Pa.), Mohawk knew it needed to be ready to face the most dominating pitcher in 3A.

The Warriors were well-prepared, having been in the cage since immediately after their semifinal win against Avonworth.

With the postponement of the title game from Wednesday to Friday due to weather, they had another opportunity to hone their skills.

“This morning, we were at the building hitting off the machine,” said senior shortstop Aricka Young. “So we came here ready to hit the ball.”

Their preparation paid off.

Mohawk (18-5) scored two early runs and then tacked on seven in the fifth inning to win 9-2 over South Park (19-2). The victory gave the Warriors their first WPIAL softball title.

“It’s awesome to make school history, both for our school and the program,” said Mohawk coach Hank Pezzuolo. “I’m so excited for the kids. They worked so hard. I couldn’t be happier for them.”

The Warriors struck first against South Park sophomore ace Sydney Sekely, who came into the game with a 0.31 ERA and 232 strikeouts.

“I know she didn’t have a lot of runs scored against her. She’s a very good pitcher,” said Pezzuolo. “We wanted to start quick. Offensively, I knew we could and we did.”

As it had done all season, the top of the order for Mohawk opened the scoring in the top of the first.

Junior third baseman Addison Moskal, the leadoff hitter, singled and scored on a triple by senior left fielder Maya McGreal.

In the second inning, sophomore pitcher Reagan Magno worked a one-out walk and came around to score on a single by sophomore designated hitter Gigi Cowher.

The Warriors got a superb game from Magno. In the first four innings, she held the Eagles to one hit and had faced the minimum number of hitters.

“There was some pressure,” Magno said of having to go up against Sekely, “but I didn’t allow it to get to me. My drop ball, two-seam and fastball were all working pretty well today.”

“Reagan is amazing,” said junior center fielder Alivia Hare. “She’s grown so much. Today she did her thing and put her trust in us.”

The Warriors defense was nearly a one-woman show as Young had eight assists and a pair of putouts.

“Reagan was throwing outside pitches and they were trying to pull everything, so I was getting a lot of balls hit to me,” Young said. “So, from the very beginning, I locked in.”

Magno finished the day throwing a complete game, allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

After a scoreless third and fourth innings, Mohawk finally settled in and got to Sekely.

Sophomore catcher Mylie Pistorius led off the inning and grounded out. Moskal tripled and scored on a single from Young.

“Addy (Moskal)’s our go-to. When she’s on, she’s our spark plug at leadoff,” said Pezzuolo. “We really don’t have a weak spot in our lineup and it showed today.”

Next up was Hare, who had laid down a sac bunt in the first and struck out against Sekely in the third.

“Coach pulled me over and told me to do my thing in there,” said Hare. “I hit the ball, saw it go over the center fielder’s head and I started running, wasn’t going to stop.”

Hare raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run and things only got worse for South Park.

“I said, ‘I need you to hit the ball hard,’” said Pezzuolo. “I didn’t know she was going to hit it to the fence. She’s extremely fast, so it was a big spark for us.”

“Going into it, I knew they were a good hitting team,” said South Park coach R.J. Matetic. “We were doing OK for a while, but then all of a sudden, balls that weren’t hit all that hard were dropped, and in my opinion, could have been caught. It sparked their big inning.”

After Hare’s home run, senior leftfielder Maya McGreal drew a walk and sophomore first baseman Lydia Cole popped out to third base.

Warrior freshman second baseman Gianna Pezzuolo then slashed a double and McGreal scored, which prompted Matetic to make a change in the circle.

“Syd’s pitched well all year,” said Matetic. “She might have been a little bit off today. I made the change hoping to get them off balance a little bit.”

Freshman Resse Katich came on in relief and the Mohawk offense kept rolling.

Next up was Magno, who singled in Pezzuolo and scored on a two-out double by Cowher. Pistorius added to the scoring with an RBI single to score Cowher before Moskal struck out to end the inning.

“We’ve been having two-out rallies all year long,” said coach Pezzuolo. “We said we just needed to get four or five runs here and we could really put them in a bad spot.”

Moskal finished 3 for 4 with two singles, a triple and an RBI, and Hare was 1 for 3 with the home run and a pair of RBIs.

Magno finished 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Cowher was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Warriors.

“My hats off to them. They did hit the ball well,” said Matetic. “We needed a spark ourselves, and we waited too long to make that happen.”

Katich pitched a third of an inning, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out one.

Sekely, who was back in the cirlce in the sixth, had a dominant playoff, allowing only two runs in games against Central Valley and Ligonier Valley. Against Mohawk, she allowed seven runs on 10 hits, walked a pair and struck out five in 5⅔ innings.

“We really focused in on her pitch adjustments,” said Young. “She was throwing outside and high and we were able to lay off that stuff. She spun the wall very well.”

South Park’s first hit came in the third on a bunt single by junior second baseman Mady Wilder. Their next hit would come in the fifth, when it looked like the Eagles had some life.

Sophomore third baseman Grace Kempton led off with a single, sophomore Kaitlyn Polk flew out to right, and junior leftfielder Jacie Hilligsberg singled.

Katich reached on a fielder’s choice and Wilder grounded out to second as the Eagles came up empty.

The Eagles finally got on the board in the sixth as sophomore Sydney Dubyak walked and scored on an RBI double from Sekely. Kempton then laced a single up the middle to score Sekely before Polk grounded out to end the inning.

Kempton and Ally Wilder each went 2 for 3 for the Eagles. Kempton and Sekely each had an RBI.

To lead off the seventh, Hilligsberg roped one to deep right center field and Hare sprinted over and made a terrific diving catch.

“I didn’t think the ball was in my reach, so I just jumped and I was on the ground and looked in my glove,” said Hare. “Then as I got up, I looked at the right fielder in shock, I couldn’t believe I caught it.”

“That was an amazing catch,” added Magno.

Magno gave up a walk to Katich, got Wilder to fly out to right, and Ally Wilder singled. Eagles leadoff hitter Kylie Mettrick came up and smoked one to Young at short, who flipped to Moskal at third for the final out.

“We felt our offense could take us this year,” added coach Pezzuolo. “Reagan was outstanding and we did what we had to do. I felt good all week, felt we were going to do what we did.”

Mohawk will host District 10 runner-up Harbor Creek at 4 p.m. Monday.

“We prepared so much for this game,” said Young. “We’re going to keep this offense up. I feel like we’re ready, we’re ascending, and we’re where we need to be heading into states.”

Although South Park’s Matetic isn’t happy with the result, he knows there’s a chance to be better in the PIAA tournament.

“I’m disappointed, but we had a great season,” said Matetic. “I told the girls, when you give up seven runs in an inning, it’s going to be a special team to come back from that. We need that mindset to where, if we are down, we can come back. We’ll need it heading into the state tournament.”

South Park will travel to face District 5 champion Chestnut Ridge at 4 p.m. Monday.

Tags: Mohawk, South Park