Softball hat trick
Briggs 300th win, Jacobs’ 100th hit come in Lady Mikes’ section-clinching win at J-M
By Rob Burchianti
rburchianti@heraldstandard.com
Carmichaels’ softball team had a shot at three different milestones when it took the field at Jefferson-Morgan on Thursday afternoon.
The Lady Rockets weren’t about to let the Lady Mikes celebrate without a fight, however.
Carmichaels scored three runs in the eighth inning to outlast J-M and pull out a 4-1 victory to clinch at least a share of the Section 2-A championship. In addition to that accomplishment, it was Lady Mikes coach Dave Briggs’ 300th win with the team and senior Ali Jacobs recorded her 100th hit in style in the crucial final frame.
“Three hundred feels pretty good, especially coming in a pretty memorable game today,” Briggs said. “It wasn’t boring.”
Jefferson-Morgan made sure of that.
The third-place Lady Rockets (5-5, 8-6) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning off winning pitcher Bailey Barnyak when a hit by pitch, a fielder’s choice and an error set the stage for Brooklynne Snyder’s run-scoring double.
Jefferson-Morgan pitcher Emilee Bazzoli kept Carmichaels off the board until the fifth inning when Ke’Lani Chun walked, stole second, went to third on Avery Voithofer’s ground out and scored on Payton Plavi’s bunt.
The score remained 1-1 until the top of the eighth when Kaitlyn Waggett singled, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and kept going home on a throwing error.
The undefeated Lady Mikes (8-0, 12-0) added on a couple insurance runs when Carys McConnell singled and Jacobs blasted a two-run homer to center field for career hit No. 100.
The three-run cushion was plenty for Barnyak who closed out the game by striking out the side in the bottom of the eighth.
Barnyak, who also hit a milestone this season with her 500th career strikeout, allowed the one unearned run on four hits with two walks and 16 strikeouts. Jacobs had two of Carmichaels’ four hits.
Bazzoli gave up just four hits but five walks with six strikeouts.
Gabby Marbie had a double for J-M, which lost at Carmichaels in another tight battle on April 16, 3-2.
Briggs, who has been coaching Carmichaels since 2004 and has never had a losing season, reflected on his career after the game.
“I’m pretty proud of that,” Briggs said. “I remember getting No. 200 and I was sort of excited about that. But I kept this one kind of quiet. The girls didn’t know anything about it but the other coaches knew.
“Obviously, I’ve had a lot of great players over the years to get me to this point.”
This is Carmichaels’ 12th section title under Briggs.
“Being coach is never easy but I still enjoy it,” said Briggs, who also serves as Carmichaels’ golf coach. “The girls keep me going. This is a special group that has done some great things over the last couple years.”
Carmichaels reached the WPIAL Class A final two years ago but suffered controversial losses in that championship game – 10-8 to Union when Barnyak was called for seven illegal pitches which confounded her and her coaches – and in the PIAA quarterfinals – 5-4 to Glendale when several questionable calls went against the Lady Mikes.
Both losses still haunt Briggs.
“I don’t recall another illegal pitch being called on Bailey that season,” Briggs said. “None in the playoffs (other than that game).
“Then that state game … you run into that kind of stuff sometimes. It’s never easy. That team from 2023 was one of the most talented that I ever had and I thought they had a chance to win the state title.”
The Lady Mikes didn’t reach the WPIAL final last year but made up for that with a run all the way to Penn State University for the PIAA championship game where they fell to DuBois Central Catholic, 2-0.
“I thought that was a heck of an accomplishment, fighting our way to the state finals and to get on that stage,” Briggs said. “We weren’t a perfect team but they played well together and got great pitching and some clutch hitting at opportune times and were able to get there. That run was pretty memorable.
“Getting to a state final, It’s hard to do. I’ve had some really good teams that didn’t get that far. The team I had in 2012 was fabulous and we lost in the first round of the states to the team that ended up winning it all that year.”
Carmichaels still has a chance to do something only one of Briggs’ other 21 teams have done and that’s go through the regular season undefeated.
To do that the Lady Mikes will have to win at West Greene (8-1, 13-1) where it can claim sole possession of the section crown on Monday and at Class 2A power Waynesburg Central (11-5) on Tuesday.