Latrobe freshman Natalia Scekeres found out only minutes before her first varsity softball game she would be leading off.
She took it in stride and embraced the opportunity, and the Wildcats followed her lead.
“I wasn’t nervous,” the up-and-coming shortstop said. “We know we can hit. If our bats come alive, we know what we can do.”
The Wildcats were tuned in offensively in their season opener, scattering 12 hits and just as many runs to handle Norwin, 12-2, in five innings on Tuesday in North Huntingdon.
Scekeres turned in a 4-for-4 afternoon with three singles, a triple and two runs batted in for the Wildcats (1-0), whose top three hitters in the order went 8 for 12 with six RBIs.
“I just wanted to get on any way I could,” Scekeres said. “Hits are contagious.”
Scekeres opened with a bunt single to get the offense started. An error allowed the first run to score in the opening inning.
“I told her, we want the ball on the ground and her using her speed,” Latrobe coach Bob Kovalcin said of his leadoff hitter. “If she pops up, I told her she’s be doing push-ups.
“It was a good opening day. We played great defense, (senior) Mya (McHugh) pitched well and we put the ball in play.”
Norwin, the surprise WPIAL 6A runner-up last season, fell to 0-2. The Knights committed six errors, including four in the second inning when Latrobe scored six times.
“It’s good for us to see some of these teams from bigger schools,” Scekeres said. “It will get us ready for section and give us some confidence.”
Sophomore Jules Bulebosh, Sekeres and junior Maddie Munchinski singled in runs, and junior Miley Williams doubled before two throwing errors gave the Wildcats two more runs and a 7-0 lead.
“We hit the ball right at people, and (Latrobe) put the bat on the ball,” Norwin coach Brian Mesich said. “It’s early, but we have a lot of work to do. We’re not playing how we finished last year.”
Latrobe, a WPIAL semifinal team and PIAA qualifier in 5A last season, continued to get hits off of junior starting pitcher Abbie Telli, increasing the advantage to 11-0 in the third.
Scekeres and Munchinski matched run-scoring singles, and Williams ripped a two-run single to put the Wildcats ahead by 11.
No. 2 and 3 hitters Munchinski and Williams each went 2 for 4 with two RBIs apiece.
“We didn’t have our first defensive practice until Feb. 3,” Kovalcin said. “We focused on our hitting. We want to get on base and run.”
After sophomore Diem Wardzinski tripled, a Latrobe error allowed Norwin to get on the board in the third.
Freshman catcher Makenna Black and senior Rachel Minteer then singled, and senior Isebella Deering walked to load the bases.
Junior Addison Grimes knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 11-2.
Latrobe tacked on one more score in the fifth to invoke the 10-run mercy rule. Sekeres tripled to start the inning, then scored on an error in left.
Black doubled to left in the Knights’ fifth, but McHugh induced three flyouts to make sure the game didn’t reach the sixth.
McHugh worked out of a bases-loaded situation in the first, which gave her and the defense confidence the rest of the way.
Despite a wild pitch and two walks, McHugh struck out Grimes, who pushed her to a 3-2 count.
McHugh went five innings, allowed six hits, struck out four and walked four, issuing three free passes to Deering.
Telli took the loss for the Knights. She was replaced in the top of the fourth by junior Addison Elyes.
Black had two hits, and sophomore Madelyn Kugler doubled for Norwin.
“We have a lot to figure out as far as who goes where,” Mesich said. “There are a lot of moving parts.”