Coaches have said that late May softball is different than March or April softball.
If that is true, then it stands to reason June softball is not the same as May.
Case in point, in the WPIAL semifinals, top-seeded Shaler needed only five innings to impose the 10-run rule on No. 5 Baldwin en route to its second straight district crown.
None of that mattered Thursday at West Mifflin when the teams met in a PIAA quarterfinal.
Shaler struggled to build on a slim one-run lead, then watched Baldwin come back to tie in the bottom of the sixth inning before the Titans scored the game winner in the top of the seventh to beat the Highlanders, 2-1.
“I was preaching that in here: ‘We’re letting this team stick around and stick around,’” Shaler coach Tom Sorce said. “Maybe we put a little pressure on ourselves waiting for somebody else to make the big play, but it ended up being our senior, who if I had to pick a kid to go up there and do it, I would have picked Jayla.”
Jayla Antomachi ripped a double to the fence in left field with two outs in the seventh that chased home Ellie Nickel with the game-winning run.
Up until then for Shaler, it was missed opportunities at the plate and clutch pitching by Baldwin junior Melina DeFelice.
“She pitches with emotion whenever she’s out there,” Baldwin coach Ron Santillo said. “She doesn’t have any quit in her and she’ll keep throwing. We could have brought another pitcher in, but she battled and we all wanted it.
“You can tell in the dugout, it was different.”
DeFelice walked the bases loaded with two outs in the first inning and then struck out Giada Colamarino.
The Titans did scrap across a run in the second inning when Olivia Gieraltowski hit a one-out single, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI groundout by Nickel.
More chances for Shaler to extend the lead came and went.
In the fourth inning, Peyton Nichols reached on an error but was gunned out at second base trying to steal by Highlanders catcher Avery Herrington.
In the fifth, Baldwin built momentum on defense.
Nickel had an infield single and advanced to second base on a throwing error. Following a sacrifice bunt by Haley Machajewski, Antomachi nearly played hero two innings earlier when she flied out to right field; however, Nickel was gunned out at home plate when the Highlanders’ Camryn Temme threw a dime to Herrington, who made the tag for a 9-2 inning ending double play.
A single and a walk put two Titans on with no outs when DeFelice induced three straight infield popups to end another Shaler rally.
Finally, Baldwin made them pay and evened the score.
Ava Bonacci beat out an infield single to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning.
After a strikeout and a great catch in foul territory by Shaler third baseman Leah Eich, Camryn Temme drilled a ball to the fence in center field that chased Bonocci all the way from first base to tie the game.
“They came to play,” Shaler senior pitch Bria Bosiljevac said, tipping her cap to the Highlanders. “I think we could have come with a little more intensity.”
The Indiana commit put up some impressive numbers considering that she was battling a migraine headache and a less-than-100% ankle.
“From the fourth inning on, Bria was pitching on guts,” Sorce said. “That’s a sign of the type of kid she is. She wanted it and she’s just a stud.”
Bosiljevac pitched seven innings, allowing one run on three hits while walking two and striking out 14, including 10 of the final 13 batters she faced.
The season ends for Baldwin with a record of 20-6 and lots of hope with a lot of key players returning.
“There’s so much pride on this team and they love playing together,” Santillo said. “The big difference from where we were a few years ago is now they expect to win.”
Shaler improves to 22-1 and will face Thomas Jefferson on Monday a win away from returning to the state finals, where the Titans were when this group of seniors were freshmen.
“We have a tough journey,” Source said. “I have a lot of respect for TJ, but hopefully this game is going to wake us up.”