Lady Vikings hang on for 4-3 section win over Yough
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
Mount Pleasant’s Carolyn Alincic is about to deliver a pitch during Monday’s Section 1-AAAA game against Yough at Mount Pleasant Area High School. Alincic, a senior, helped lead the Lady Vikings to a 4-3 victory over the Lady Cougars on Senior Day.
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
Yough’s Kierra Waywood pitches during Monday’s Section 1-AAAA game against Mount Pleasant at Mount Pleasant Area High School.
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
Mount Pleasant’s Katie Hutter fouls off a pitch during a Section 1-AAAA game against Yough at Mount Pleasant Area High School on April 29. Mount Pleasant won, 4-3. The WPIAL released its softball playoff pairings on Thursday and the undefeated Lady Vikings were made the No. 1 seed in Class AAAA.
Jonathan Guth | herald-Standard
Yough’s Nevaeh Chopp looks up to catch a popup during Monday’s Section 1-AAAA at Mount Pleasant.
MOUNT PLEASANT — Mount Pleasant’s Carolyn Alincic was cruising on Senior Day and took a one-hitter into the seventh and final inning before Yough’s bats came alive.
The Lady Cougars (6-2, 9-5) scored three runs to cut the deficit to one, and had the tying run on second base before Alincic got the next batter to pop up to shortstop for a 4-3 victory on Monday in Section 1-AAAA play at Mount Pleasant.
The Lady Vikings, who came into the game as the No. 1 ranked team in Class AAAA, improved to 8-0 in section play and 12-0 overall. Yough came into the contest as the No. 2 ranked team in 4A.
“We told the girls that Yough was going to give us everything they had,” Mount Pleasant coach Chris Brunson said. “It was another close game with them, but that is what we expected against a team like that. They are a traditional winning program and Dutch (Harvey) is a great coach, and they have a lot of fight in them.”
“I loved the fight in the girls,” Harvey said. “If we were going to go down, we were going to go down aggressive. We started to hit the ball in the seventh inning. We could ‘what if’ all day long, but we are not going to do that. I thought for sure we would have got one run there at the end.”
Alincic, who will continue her college career at Morehead State (Ky.), allowed three runs on four hits in seven innings. She had 10 strikeouts and walked four.
“We knew they were going to hit the ball,” Alincic said. “I’m not unhittable, but Coach just told me to calm down when they had the tying run coming up. I plan on seeing Yough again in the playoffs. This was great today, but it’s kind of bittersweet since I know my time playing on this field is close to coming to an end.”
Alincic gave up two walks in the first inning, and believes the butterflies of playing on Senior Day in a huge game may have been a factor to her control early on.
“I think this being my Senior Day definitely had something to do with me walking two batters in the first inning,” Alincic said. “I personally as a pitcher get better as the game goes on, so that factored into it, but today was just one of those days, I guess.”
“Sometimes Carolyn (Alincic) takes a little bit of time to get into her groove with her pitches,” Brunson said. “I don’t think it’s a warm-up thing or anything.
“I think she was a little frustrated she wasn’t getting every call that she wanted (in the seventh inning),” continued Brunson. “As a competitor, that’s what you want, somebody that wants every call. She was just missing. I just went out and calmed her down and told her to challenge those hitters.”
Alincic and Lady Cougars starting pitcher Kierra Waywood were locked in a scoreless duel through the first four innings before Mount Pleasant broke through with a run in the fifth when Hannah Gnibus doubled with one out and scored on Katie Hutter’s single to left field.
Hutter, a freshman, had two hits and made several strong plays at second base.
“We have asked a lot of her (Hutter) over the year,” Brunson said. “She has played a high level of travel and played some older games, so she is used to it. I told her early in the season, ‘You are not a freshman,’ and I don’t look at her that way. We expect to go may those big plays and come up with the big hits, and obviously, I have confidence in her, I hit her second.”
“I say it all the time, ‘Katie (Hutter) is one of my favorite people to watch, she’s a second baseman. I love watching her play,'” Alincic said. “I love my defense.”
The Lady Vikings added three runs in the sixth for a 4-0 lead.
“We took advantage an error in the sixth inning,” Brunson said. “It was a playoff-type game with really two good teams. You kind of thought it was going to come down to a walk, an error, a two-out hit or a mistake.”
Haylie Brunson reached first base via an error, and after Waywood recorded a strikeout and fly ball to center, Sydni Overly reached on an infield single.
Brunson scored on Rae McNair’s bloop single that went over the third baseman’s head, and Overly and McNair sprinted home on Gnibus’ triple to center field.
“We have given our fair share of games away, and I thought this was one of them,” Harvey said. “When you make a mistake against any good, quality opponent, you are going to pay the price.”
Waywood surrendered four runs on nine hits in six innings. She had five strikeouts and walked one.
“Every time we have her (Waywood) in the circle, we have a chance to win every ball game,” Harvey said. “Pitching is everything, and if you don’t have pitching, you are not going to go far in WPIALs.”
Yough’s Katelyn Chilzer walked with one out in the seventh, but was thrown out at home on Corrin Parquette’s double.
Hadley Sleith picked up her teammates with a single to right field to score Parquette and Nevaeh Chopp walked. Waywood smacked a double to the right-field fence to plate Sleith and Chopp.
“Kierra (Waywood) a good adjustment in the box and drilled that ball to the right side,” Harvey said. “When we got base runners on, we did something.”