May 21, 2018 By Jim Wexell for The 5 min read

FOX CHAPEL — A talent-laden, championship-honed Mount Pleasant softball team looked the part Monday as it trounced Knoch, 10-0, in a five-inning WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinal playoff game.

Mount Pleasant scored five runs in the first inning and capped the day off with Meadow Uncapher’s three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to push the lead to 10-0. Carolyn Alincic then went out in the fifth and shut Knoch down for the early finish due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Alincic allowed two singles to Knoch, the third-place team in Mount Pleasant’s Section 1.

Mount Pleasant, of course, is the section champ and the WPIAL’s top seed in Class AAAA with a 16-0 record. The Lady Vikings are the defending state champion and two years removed from winning a WPIAL championship.

Is this the year they win both?

“It’s a new year,” said coach Lauren Armanious. “Of course, every single year I want to win the section, and the WPIAL, and the state. Every single year we want those things. Are they always achievable? I don’t know. Is it achievable this year? Absolutely. Does that mean that is my expectation? No. We have to earn that. We have to put the time in, and we have put the time in, that’s for sure. But it’s something we’ve got to earn. Every game is one conquered.”

The last time Mount Pleasant lost a game was to Belle Vernon in last year’s WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals, 1-0. The Lady Vikings face the Lady Leopards in the semifinals once again, on Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. Bailey Parshall no-hit Ambridge in Belle Vernon’s 3-0 victory.

This one was conquered with an offense that pounded out 11 hits in four innings. The Poulich sisters led the way with six plate appearances and six runs scored, while batting in the Nos. 2 and 3 spots in the order.

Courtney Poulich, a freshman who’s committed to Liberty, hit three singles and was alert on the bases, taking a pair of extra bases on poor throws on balls hit by her big sister, Chloe, a senior who’s committed to Towson. Chloe Poulich walked, singled and tripled to spark the offense.

“It’s super cool,” Chloe, the third baseman, said of playing with her first baseman sister on the same team for the first time. “To see her do, play, and succeed is really cool.”

The senior playing across the diamond from her freshman sister is an example of the transition taking place at Mount Pleasant. The Lady Vikings are no doubt an experienced team that’s been on big stages, but freshmen are batting second (Poulich), fourth (Haylie Brunson, two singles, two RBI, stolen base), and fifth (Mary Smithnosky, single).

Isn’t that a little too close to the fire?

“No,” Chloe Poulich said with a laugh. “These freshmen are really good.”

Obviously, the highly-decorated upperclassmen at Mount Pleasant don’t begrudge the kiddie corps.

“We play for the name on the front, not on the back,” said Armanious. “They are very good at that and they understand. Their thinking is, ‘I am playing for my team. I am not playing for myself. What can I do better, on the field or off the field? What can I do to help my teammates?’ It’s something we really have done throughout the past five years.”

A great example of that selflessness is the competition on the mound. Armanious alternates pitching Alincic and Uncapher. Alincic got the call Monday and struck out nine and walked one in earning the win. Uncapher, meanwhile, came off the bench to pinch-hit in the fourth and blasted the game-clinching dinger over the left-field fence.

“She needed that,” Armanious said. “She’s an excellent hitter. That was more of what we expect from her. We expect that. She was a clean-up hitter the past couple of years — in a tiny bit of a slump. But that, I think, was a catapult, and I’m hoping that is what continues the rest of the playoffs.”

That could be a long run, the way Mount Pleasant looked Monday — freshmen or not — amid the pressure of such high expectations.

“I thrive on pressure. I like it. It’s good,” Armanious said. “If you’re not feeling pressure then you probably don’t care.

“No, it’s a good thing. I know it is for them, too. We do a lot of situations in practice where we put them into a pressure situation and they thrive on the pressure. I think that makes a good athlete. You have to want the ball. You want that at-bat. You want it to be two outs, bases loaded. That’s the kind of athlete I want, someone who wants to be put in that position.”

“We’re just going one game at a time,” said Poulich. “Then focus on the next one, win the next one, win the next one. Whatever the outcome, focus game by game and not look too far ahead.

“We have a target on us now, but we’ll just take it game by game. It’s really important that we don’t get ahead of ourselves and lose focus.”