Neshannock shuts out Bentworth for 3rd-straight WPIAL title
CALIFORNIA — Bentworth softball made its first of what the Lady Bearcat community hopes is many trips to the WPIAL finals Thursday afternoon at PennWest California’s Lilley Field.
Bentworth was riding a 16-game winning streak and had one of the best pitchers in the WPIAL in freshman Sydney Gonglik, but Neshannock showed why it is undefeated, as the Lady Lancers earned a 3-0 victory in the Class AA title game to win their third straight district title and fifth overall.
Both teams qualified for the state playoffs that begin on Monday.
“They are a good solid team, and we hung with them as best as we could, but experience does play a part in it,” Bentworth coach Jack Cramer said. “It was our first time, but it won’t be our last.
“I’m proud of our girls,” added Cramer. “We’re actually a game ahead of where we thought we would be. We will go play Monday and see where it goes from there.”
The Lady Bearcats’ best opportunity to score came in the top of the first inning when Gonglik was hit-by-pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball. Sofia Gaussa worked a walk on a 3-2 count before she and Gonglik moved to second and third on a second passed ball.
Neshannock junior pitcher Addyson Frye buckled down and recorded two strikeouts in a row and induced a groundout to shortstop to end the threat.
Gonglik hasn’t given up many runs this season, or hits, but Neshannock (22-0) scored twice in the first inning, which was all Frye would need.
“We have a good pitcher and they have a good pitcher,” Cramer said. “They put the ball in play. We will be working on our bunting a lot.”
Frye pitched a three-hit shutout over seven innings with 12 strikeouts and two walks for the win.
“I am just so proud of the girls,” Neshannock coach Jackie Lash said. “We were ready to come in today and just play hard. We knew we were facing a great pitcher, and all we did was hit for a week. It seemed like we had to wait an eternity to get to this game. The girls came out here and performed.”
Miley Anderson led off with a slap base hit and advanced to second when Jaidon Nogay was hit-by-pitch.
“Miley is a spark, and that’s why she’s our leadoff,” Lash said. “And I’ll tell you a little secret, she just learned how to slap this week. I almost cried when she did it because it was perfect placement, too.”
Anderson and Nogay moved to second and third on a passed ball before Anderson scored on a wild pitch and Nogay advanced to third. Nogay scored on Gabby Perod’s single to left field for a 2-0 lead.
The Lady Lancers added their third run in the fifth when Anderson singled up the middle, advanced to second on Nogay’s sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on Perod’s base hit for a 3-0 advantage.
Nogay came up big in the field in the sixth when she made a diving catch to rob Gaussa of extra bases after Gonglik led off with an infield single. Frye recorded a strikeout and forced a grounder to second to end the inning.
“We always say that we have a really good defense, and you hear that saying that defense wins games, and I really believe it does,” Lash said. “She (Nogay) is the youngest Nogay sister, and if you know anything about those girls, they are the best athletes you can find, they are driven, they work hard and are just focused kids that are going to give you everything you got, and Jaidon followed through.”
Bentworth had an opportunity in the seventh with two outs when Hailey Tatar walked and Aubrie Logan was hit-by-pitch, but Kayla O’Dell’s bloop to centerfield was caught by Lady Lancers second baseman Ali Giordano, who backpedaled for the final putout.
Neither team was sure if the play was made, but once they realized the game was over, Neshannock’s coaches and players on the bench stormed the field to celebrate.
The what-if game is always played in sports, and the mystery will remain as to what would have happened if O’Dell’s ball dropped in for a single and Gonglik came up to bat with the bases loaded.
“We keep it close, anything can happen,” Cramer said. “That ball drops and we have three girls on base with Sydney coming up, I’ll take that.”
Gonglik allowed three earned runs on seven hits over six innings. She struck out six and walked three.
The Lady Lancer hitters were patient at the plate, and weren’t fooled by Gonglik’s array of breaking pitches.
“We were very familiar with the types of pitches we were going to see, so we worked a lot of disciplined hitting this week, and the girls did a fantastic job,” Lash said.
Kyleigh Glaze had the other base hit for the Lady Bearcats.