May 7, 2002 By Rob Burchianti 5 min read

Laurel Highlands needed some help if was going to make the WPIAL playoffs. The Fillies had no problem taking care of their own business against cross-town rival Uniontown on Monday night, but Elizabeth-Forward didn’t cooperate.

Janelle Zinn was 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs, three runs scored and two stolen bases, and freshman Jen Barry pitched a five-hitter as LH spoiled the Lady Raiders’ senior night with a 15-2 victory in five innings. No. 9 hitter Heidi Frank had three of Laurel Highlands’ 17 hits.

The Fillies improve to 10-6 overall and 5-3 in Section 3-AAA, while Uniontown falls to 3-12 and 1-9.

Elizabeth-Forward topped Belle Vernon Monday, 5-1, to improve to 8-1 in the section and thereby lock out the Fillies.

“This was a good game for us,” Laurel Highlands coach George Kaiser said. “The girls played well, and we hit the ball like we should.”

The Fillies also played solid defense, committing only one error.

“We’ve got a solid defensive squad,” Kaiser said. “I think everyone played well for us tonight.”

Laurel Highlands travels to E-F today for a 3:30 p.m. game.

“We dug ourselves a hole by losing to Belle Vernon, Elizabeth and Connellsville early on,”Kaiser said. “But we’ll keep battling.”

Uniontown coach Bo Clay inserted four of his five seniors into the starting lineup in pitcher Emily Zaccheus, her twin sister first baseman Chrissy Zaccheus, third baseman Lindsay Gaydos and right fielder Katie Donesec. A fifth senior, Melissa Fagler, was unable to attend the game.

Emily Zaccheus went the distance, allowing eight earned runs on 17 hits with one walk and one strikeout.

“Emily’s not an over-powering pitcher, but she usually throws strikes and she’s an excellent fielding pitcher,” Clay said. “They hit her, but she didn’t pitch all that bad. A couple times we got two outs and then just couldn’t get that third out to get out. We made a couple errors at key times, and we made a few mental mistakes, too.”

Barry gave up one earned run with one walk and two strikeouts.

“Jen did a real nice job,” Kaiser said. “She’s learning how to pitch. The key to success is to change speeds. I don’t care how fast you throw, if you don’t change speeds, people will eventually hit you. Jen is starting to do that.”

Barry is one of three pitchers Kaiser is rotating this year, with Angie Shotter and Angie Stafford, both juniors, also taking the mound.

“They’re all pretty equal,” Kaiser said.

In addition to Zinn and Frank, four other Laurel Highlands hitters had two or more hits.

Shotter drove in two runs with a triple and a single. Barry doubled, singled and knocked in two runs. Abby Martin singled twice and stole two bases, and Teri Veno was 2-for-3 with a double and a sacrifice bunt.

The Fillies struck for three runs in the first. Barry led off with a double, Martin reached on an error and stole second, and Zinn brought home both runners with a single to center. Zinn then stole second, went to third on Marci Pursglove’s ground out, and stole home to make it 3-0.

Uniontown answered with a run in the bottom of the inning. Chrissy Zaccheus walked, went to second on Julianne Burnworth’s sacrifice bunt and scored on freshman Holly Sisler’s double.

Sisler had two of the Lady Raiders’ five hits, and the left fielder also robbed Zinn of an extra-base hit with a spectacular diving catch in left-center field in the fourth inning.

“Holly gives it her all,” Clay said. “That was a nice play out there, and she’s leading our team in batting average, too.”

Laurel Highlands pushed across four more runs in the second to go up 7-1. Ashley Capranica led off with a single, and Veno bunted her to second with Emily Zaccheus making a sparkling play to get the out at first.

Frank singled to center, Barry followed with an RBI ground out, Martin stroked a run-scoring single to left, Zinn socked an RBI double to left and Shotter smashed a run-scoring triple to right.

Center fielder Julianne Burnworth helped keep LH off the board in the third when she made a fine running catch in left-center on ball hit by Capranica.

The Lady Raiders threatened with two outs in the bottom of the inning when and Tricia Handy singled, but then got Sisler to hit into a fielder’s choice.

The Fillies tacked on another run in the fourth as Stafford drilled a two-out RBI double to deep left.

Uniontown scored its second run in the bottom of the inning when Emily Fisher singled, Gaydos reached on an error and Barry hit Meghan McConville and Donesec with pitches to force in a run.

Laurel Highlands sent 11 batters to the plate in a seven-run fifth to blow the game wide open. Barry, Shotter, Stafford, Joy Mickey and Keri Smiell each had an RBI in the inning.

Barry kept Uniontown off the board in the bottom of the inning to end the game according to the 10-run rule.