Penn-Trafford softball stomps Hampton in 1st round

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 | 8:42 PM

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The Penn-Trafford softball team scored four runs in the bottom of the first during Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 5A first-round playoff game against Hampton at Gateway.

The top-seeded Warriors rolled from there to a 10-0 victory halted after five innings.

“We got hits and did a lot of the little things,” Penn-Trafford coach Denny Little said.

“We didn’t get many big hits, and we’re known for that. But we got a number of clutch hits. Everyone did a good job of getting the bat on the ball.”

Penn-Trafford (15-4) has won 14 of 15 games after a 1-3 start. The Warriors advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals and will play North Hills at a site and time that was not determined as of Tuesday evening.

North Hills, the No. 8 seed, topped Trinity, 4-2, in the first round Tuesday at Montour.

“We know we’re going to play a tough opponent,” Little said as the North Hills-Trinity game still was undecided Tuesday evening.

“We told the girls before the game that it’s a new season. Everything about the playoffs is about quality. We want a quality start out of the pitchers and a quality finish from the pitchers and quality at-bats throughout the game. With that, we are confident we can take care of business.”

It looked as if Hampton would score first as it threatened in the first inning.

Hannah Bradfield singled off Penn-Trafford starter McKenzie Rapp to start the game and was sacrificed to second by Caitlyn McCarthy.

Bella Henzler then singled, and Addy McGuire was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Charlotte Lomb hit a sharp grounder to short, but Sarah Yamrick ranged towards second, scooped the ball, stepped on the bag and threw on to first to compete the double play.

“That all started with McKenzie making a great low, inside pitch to get the ground ball to the left side,” Little said.

“It was a good hit and a good play by Sarah to get us out of a big jam.”

Penn-Trafford’s four first-inning runs came on a parlay of two hits, a sacrifice fly and a trio of Hampton errors.

Brooke Cleland brought home the first run with an RBI fly ball to center field that scored Allie Prady from third.

After Emma Little singled and Kylie Piconi reached on an error, Sarah Eisenhuth doubled to score two.

“It was super important to get that lead,” Eisenhuth said. “I wanted to do the job for my team — either move the runners up or bring them home, which I did. It worked out well. We had a lot of good at-bats and a lot of great plays on defense throughout the game.”

Penn-Trafford added a run in the second, two in the fourth and three in the fifth.

Yamrick and Prady each drove in runs in the fifth before Cleland was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to end the game.

Penn-Trafford finished with 11 hits as Yamrick, Little and Hannah Allen each finished with two hits.

Rapp pitched into the third and gave up two of Hampton’s three hits. She walked one.

Mia Smith came on and surrendered an infield single in the fourth and walked one in the fifth. She struck out two.

Lomb finished with three strikeouts, a walk and two hit batters. All four of Penn-Trafford’s runs in the first inning were unearned.

“You can’t give a team like Penn-Trafford any opening because they can hit, they can bunt, they are smart and fast on the bases,” Hampton coach Ron Fedell said.

“They can do just about anything you need to do to score runs on a softball field. But it was a great opportunity to play against them. We have a young team, so, hopefully, they learn from this and are able to get some idea of what it takes to win playoff games and hopefully win a championship.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Hampton, Penn-Trafford