Brownsville stuns No. 4 SA for first softball playoff win
Ava Clark had knocked off just about every individual goal she set for herself through her four years as the pitching ace for Brownsville’s softball team.
She broke the program record for strikeouts a year ago and jacked her career total up over 600 and then 700 during her senior season.
Still, there was a team goal out there that had eluded Clark and her Lady Falcons that they desperately wanted to achieve.
Thursday night that came to fruition when 13th-seeded Brownsville knocked off No. 4 South Allegheny, 7-1, in a WPIAL Class 2A first-round playoff game at Norwin High School.
It was the first ever postseason victory for the Lady Falcons and longtime coach Jane Bock.
“This is history right here,” Bock said.
The win propelled Brownsville (13-7) into Monday’s quarterfinals against fifth-seeded Neshannock (15-5), which defeated No. 12 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (8-9), 11-1 in six innings, also on Thursday.
Clark took a shutout into the seventh inning in firing a five-hitter and delivered a single, double and three RBIs in Brownsville’s break-through win.
The Lady Falcons got contributions across the board.
Emma Leigh Bailey was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI, Lena Rechichar had two hits and Tavan Ternitsky added a double and an RBI as Brownsville pounded out 11 hits while playing flawless defense.
“We finally got here and finally got us a win,” said a smiling Clark. “It means a lot. We worked hard all year. I knew it was coming. Everything came together for us today. It was definitely a team win. Everybody put in all their effort, fielding, hitting, everything.”
Bock has dedicated 44 years to the program and the last 42 as head coach and was thrilled to see her team finally secure a playoff win.
“Finally,” Bock said. “I’ve waited a long time. But this is a great group of kids willing to put the work in, play hard and just finally believe in themselves that we could do this.”
Clark struck out eight while walking one and came through at the plate with two key hits.
The Lady Gladiators threatened to score first in the bottom of the second inning when Jordyn Stetor hit a lead-off double and advanced to second on Carrera Conley’s fly out to right fielder Jordyn Davis, but first baseman Paityn Thomas snagged Ava Brown’s sharp grounder and held the runner at third before stepping on first for the second out. Clark then got an inning-ending strikeout.
It was then Brownsville that got on the board first in the top of the third when Clark drilled a double to center field to bring in Lyla Gill who had led off with a single.
Scoring first was crucial, according to Bock and Clark.
“That was nice. I was locked in, trying to get us a run,” said Clark, who gave credit to third base coach Albert VanDivner. “Albert has been helping me out with my hitting and I’ve gotten a lot better this season.
“Scoring first calmed me down, knowing we have a run so I can chill a little bit.”
“Very big,” Bock said of putting up the first run. “Anytime we get a lead with Ava on the mound that just boosts our confidence even more and it starts to maybe get into the other team’s mind a little bit.”
The Lady Falcons took complete control with a five-run fourth inning that chased South Allegheny starting pitcher Brown from the game.
“After that I knew we had them,” Clark said. “I knew I could lock in down from there with that many runs.”
Bailey and Ternitsky started the rally by pounding back-to-back doubles to make it 2-0 and Thomas moved Ternitsky to third with a ground out.
The Lady Falcons then unleashed an effective bunting attack that frazzled the Lady Gladiators.
Ciara Horabik’s bunt resulted in an error that scored Ternitsky and she advanced to third on a single to right by Jordyn Davis, who then stole second. Gill’s bunt led to another error that allowed Horabik to score and Lena Rechichar’s bunt single loaded the bases.
That brought Clark to the plate and she smacked a two-run single up the middle to put Brownsville ahead 6-0.
That was all for Brown, who was touched up for 10 hits in 3 ⅓ innings with Conley relieving.
“You don’t know how hard we work on bunting and we were able to make things happen with that part of our game,” Bock said. “Even when they knew we were bunting our girls executed so well it didn’t matter. We told our players just lay it down, they’ve got to make the play and we put a lot of pressure on them that way.”
Two more bunts led to another Brownsville run in the fifth inning.
Bailey led off with a single to center and took third when Ternitsky’s sacrifice bunt was misplayed for an error, and she then stole second. One out later Horabik put down another sacrifice bunt that brought in Bailey with her team’s seventh run.
That was more than enough for Clark who held South Allegheny in check until the bottom of the seventh when she started out with a four-pitch walk, her only one of the game, prompting a mound huddle.
“I think the nerves got to me a little bit there in the seventh but my team helped me out,” Clark said.
After a fly out to left fielder Horabik and a ground out to second baseman Bailey that moved the runner up, Taylor Bowman, who had doubled earlier, drove in the Lady Gladiators’ only run with a single to left. Bowman tried to advance to second on the throw home but the alert Clark fired to Bailey covering second who tagged Bowman out to end the game.
That sparked a joyous Brownsville celebration on the infield.
“This is bigger than getting those 600 and 700 strikeout goals,” Clark said. “This is what we wanted to do, win a playoff game. That was one of the goals I had for my senior year. We couldn’t have done it with out Ms. Bock and Albert and all our coaches.”
Bock’s assistant coaches include VanDivner, Bill Rouse and Patty Columbia, who was the target for a Gatorade bath by the players after the game.
“I’m so happy for the girls,” Bock said. “They’ve worked so hard for this and I’m glad they were able to see some success. Seeded 13th, that was kind of a chip on our shoulder. We wanted to prove this is a very good team that deserved more respect than that.”
Clark has added another final goal before she wraps up her career at Brownsville.
“Now we want to keep going,” Clark said. “We want to make a playoff run.”