Thomas Jefferson softball ousts Penn-Trafford in WPIAL quarterfinals

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, May 21, 2018 | 8:57 PM

Penn-Trafford topped 10 runs eight times during the regular season, and it appeared the Warriors were on their way to another stat-stuffing performance against Thomas Jefferson in the WPIAL Class 5A softball quarterfinals Monday at Latrobe.

A hard-hit two-run homer from Morgan Nedley — her fourth of the season — put Penn-Trafford ahead in the first inning. A third run was added in the bottom of the third on a Becky Mertz sacrifice fly to deep center field. The Warriors threatened to add to their two-run lead when Thomas Jefferson catcher Haleigh Karcher threw out Nedley, who was attempting to steal second base.

The inning was over. So was Penn-Trafford's momentum.

Lily Rockwell led off the fourth with a solo home run, and her two-run single in the fifth gave No. 11 Thomas Jefferson a lead it would not relinquish en route to a 7-4 win.

“I don't believe that play changed momentum that much,” Penn-Trafford coach Denny Little said. “What really changed the game was (Thomas Jefferson's) young players made plays.”

Rockwell, a freshman designated player, and outfielder Claire Whalen, another freshman, helped TJ (12-5) advance to Wednesday's semifinals against No. 2 Albert Gallatin.

Rockwell went 3 for 3, reached base four times, scored twice and drove in three runs. Her go-ahead single came after she just missed a second home run with a towering blast to left that went foul. Whalen doubled twice and reached base three times. Sophomore Alana Cleary added two hits and scored twice.

“I'm just confident in how I hit,” Rockwell said. “The last game (a 3-2 win against Moon), I was really struggling. But I had to keep coming back and stay confident.”

Penn-Trafford's offensive confidence was shaken in the middle innings as Jaguars pitcher Bella Bucy found a groove against the Warriors' potent lineup.

Bucy retired nine consecutive batters during the middle innings. Brooke Cleland ended the run with a solo home run in the sixth to get the third-seeded Warriors (16-4) within 5-4, but TJ scored two key runs in the seventh, the last coming on a Liz Brock single.

“Bella started the day, she wasn't throwing her hardest. I think it's different for pitchers when they're on turf,” Thomas Jefferson coach Heidi Karcher said. “I told her she needed to start giving me some more velocity, and she did. She started driving off the mound.”

Bucy only struck out three, but she allowed just three hits over the final four innings against a Penn-Trafford team that defeated Class 6A powers Hempfield and Latrobe, had won nine of 10 and outscored its past three opponents 21-1.

“Their pitcher, you have to hand it to her,” Little said of Bucy. “They made plays, and it didn't help that we had a 10-day layoff. That just kills your momentum. Maybe we'd have been better off without a bye.”

Penn-Trafford, which hasn't reached the semifinals since 2014, hadn't played since May 10, and the Warriors had scrimmages and practice during the 11 days between games.

“Frustrating is the right word,” Little said about Penn-Trafford's latest quarterfinals loss. “We scouted Thomas Jefferson, and their hitters were totally different in that game. But they made some plays, and some balls that we hit to their outfield that normally would've fallen in, didn't fall in. You don't want to hit the ball in the air to that outfield.”

Mike Kovak is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mkovak@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MKovak_Trib.

Tags: Peters Township, Thomas Jefferson