Unchapher, Lady Vikings shut out Harbor Creek
Meadow Uncapher scattered four hits and Mount Pleasant added a couple insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning as the Lady Vikings survived a trip to Erie for a 3-0 victory over Harbor Creek Monday in the opening game of the PIAA Class AAAA softball playoffs.
Harbor Creek, the District 10 champion, was able to open at a field within the district, so the Lady Vikings, the third team from the WPIAL, was on the road to Penn State-Behrend.
Mount Pleasant went through a couple weather bands on the northern journey on Interstate 79, but dealt with no rain for their first-round game.
“How often do you go north (towards Lake Erie) and it’s not raining?,” joked Mount Pleasant coach Lauren Shaheen on the return trip.
Uncapher and Harbor Creek’s Macy Stoddard shut down the opposing offenses, tossing a shutout through the first four innings.
The Lady Vikings finally broke through in the top of the fifth inning.
Christiana Czegan opened the inning with a single and moved to second on Nikki Klejka’s sacrifice bunt. Czegan then sprinted home on a ground out to second base for the first run of the game.
Mount Pleasant got a little breathing room in the top of the seventh.
Autumn Shogun led off with a triple and Czegan walked. Czegan stole second base and both came home on Klejka’s single.
Uncapher struck out five and walked one, and only allowed a couple runners move into scoring position.
“The team was really excited for this game,” said Shaheen. “We won the WPIAL title last year, but lost in the first round in the state playoffs. We’ve been here before. We know what’s at stake.
“This was a good redemption victory.”
Shaheen’s game plan started with how to deal with the over three hour trip to Penn State-Behrend.
“They’re pretty easy kids to keep interested. They’ve never had a long bus ride like this,” said Shaheen. “They watched a movie. A lot of them took a nap.
“We planned on getting there an hour early so they could stretch their legs and move around a little bit. We watched a little bit of the game before us.”
The Lady Vikings advance to play the winner of today’s Belle Vernon-Punxsutawney winner at Hampton High School. The game was to be played Monday, but was rescheduled because of rain.
“No one wants to wait around. You want to play,” Shaheen said of playing as scheduled.
The Lady Vikings lost to Belle Vernon in the WPIAL semifinals, 1-0, but Shaheen didn’t know much about Punxsutawney.
“We know about Belle Vernon. We will be playing a good team,” said Shaheen. “We’ll practice today. Focus on things we can do better with our game.”