Penn Hills softball teams confident of better season in 2022

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, March 27, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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There were things for Kiera Mack to be happy with despite a loss to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in a scrimmage last Wednesday. While Penn Hills’ softball team fell behind early, the Indians didn’t fold.

They were able to make a comeback before losing.

“I think that will help out a lot,” Mack said. “We have to get more runs in and try to not make errors. Once we make a lot of errors, that’s where it all goes downhill. We had a scrimmage and had a couple errors. We came back. We may not have won, but we came back. That’s our biggest accomplishment.”

This season’s team is hoping to help turn those accomplishments into victories. The Indians weren’t equipped to compete last season. Penn Hills was hit with a number of covid-19 cases right before the season started.

The Indians didn’t have their full complement of players and were blitzed 55-3 in their first three games. Penn Hills finished 2-12 overall and 0-12 in Section 1-5A play.

The Indians opened the season with a nonsection game last Friday at Oakland Catholic. Results of the game were too late for this edition.

First-year Penn Hills softball coach Ashley Banner believes this team is set up to get off to a better start. With 16 players on the roster and more returning experience, the Indians have a chance to be more competitive.

Pitcher Maura Wade returns as well as catcher Lauren Sipple, who was named honorable mention for all-section last season.

“We’ve got a good mix,” Banner said. “I am confident that we’re going to see good hitting and good fielding. We’ve been working on both.”

What also should help the Indians is having more depth inside the circle. Isabella DeCarlo will be counted on to throw a lot of innings along with Wade. Getting Wade more rest was something the Indians were hoping to accomplish.

Penn Hills also is working on not giving teams extra outs. Errors in games snowballed last season, and the Indians allowed 10 of their 14 opponents to score 10 runs or more.

“We want to be able to hang around with the toughest teams like Armstrong,” Mack said. “We don’t want to let them get too far ahead.”

Having Sipple behind the plate will help, as well.

“What I will say is her passion,” Banner said. “She loves catching. She is passionate about the sport and is willing to step up and teach others the game. She cares a lot and she is good for pitchers. … She’s always asking during practice, ‘Can I get in another throw to first? Can I throw to second?’ That’s a lot of passion for sure.”

London Irish, Shania Lewis and Cassie Burkovich also will be counted on to fill out key roles.

Mack, who is committed to play at Penn State New Kensington next year, has seen signs of improvement from Penn Hills.

She’s hoping to see the Indians translate what they do in practice to the games.

“We just want to keep practicing,” Mack said. “We are consistent at practice. We work a lot on fielding and hitting. Whatever we see in practice, we need to do it during games.”

Tags: Penn Hills