May 21, 2002 By Mike Ciarochi 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – The Waynesburg Lady Raiders lost a WPIAL Class AA softball playoff game, 8-7, to McGuffey Monday, but they didn’t go down without a fight. A long and colder-by-the-minute fight the Waynesburg faithful won’t soon forget.

Waynesburg battled back from a 5-0 second-inning deficit to tie the game and force extra innings. The teams battled through 11 innings before McGuffey plated three runs in the top of the 12th.

When Waynesburg’s first two batters grounded out in the bottom of the 12th, it looked bleak for the Lady Raiders. But four consecutive singles brought home two runs and left runners on first and second. A comebacker to winning pitcher Elyse King, however, ended the game and Waynesburg’s outstanding season.

“I knew they wouldn’t quit,” Waynesburg coach and Uniontown native Lou Giachetti said. “They’ve been that way all year.”

And what a year it was for the Lady Raiders. With only four seniors, Waynesburg swept through Section 3-AA and lost only two games all season. Ironically, both were 1-run extra inning losses to McGuffey, which moves on to meet Thomas Jefferson with a 10-6 record.

“Going into the season, we said we’d like to win the section, but with four sophomores starting, you just don’t know,” Giachetti said. “But they proved themselves all season.”

Waynesburg started off a little rough, with two walks, an error and a single staking McGuffey a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Highlanders added two more runs in the second when Nicole McDonough tripled home Mandy Dye and King.

After that rough start, Waynesburg pitcher Erin Cross buckled down and retired eight of the next nine batters to give Waynesburg a chance to get back into the game. In fact, from the third through the 11th inning, Cross allowed only four baserunners on a single, an error and two walks.

“Erin needs to get into a rhythm,” Giachetti said. “She found it there for a good while.”

And the Waynesburg bats finally came to life in the fifth inning. Tyler Joseph’s double drove in Angie Kayla and Cross singled home Tera Raymont before Jessie Schifko singled in Joseph and Cross plated the fourth run on an errant throw.

All of a sudden, it was a 1-run game and the homestanding Lady Raiders still had two more innings to get the tying run. It came in the sixth, when Kayla singled to left, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Raymont’s double.

“That was an unbelieveable game, wasn’t it?” McGuffey coach Jim Armstrong said. “Both pitchers knuckled down there after they tied it up. It’s a credit to both teams and I was proud that our kids were able to pull it out.”

After a air of singles, Cross intentionally walked the bases loaded. Valerie Shultz singled in a run, then an error allowed two more.

Waynesburg got consecutive singles from Nikki Giachetti, Adrienne Bosworth, Megan Areford and Kayla to get within a run, but this last great comeback wasn’t meant to be.

Even though this magical season ends with a 16-2 record, the future looks bright for Giachetti and the Lady Raiders.

“I’m very proud of what we were able to accomplish this season,” Giachetti said.

“We’re young. We’re going to miss our seniors, but the rest of these kids will be back, so we should be OK down the road.

“My hat’s off to McGuffey. They’re an excellent team.”