West Mifflin softball coach Erik Hilligsberg needed eight-plus years to accumulate 100 career wins. He only needed 24 hours to get victory No. 101.
The Class 4A No. 5-ranked Titans had steady offense and solid pitching in turning back Burrell in a nonsection win Wednesday, 9-1.
“It’s a tribute to the girls in the program, from everybody that started with me until now,” Hilligsberg said. “They bought in, and we’ve been successful during that time and won a lot, so hats off to all those girls that played for us.”
West Mifflin has made the WPIAL playoffs the last seven seasons, which is saying something considering the program only qualified for the district postseason five times in its history prior to 2018.
“I’ve been fortunate to have great kids who are good listeners and good learners, and they work hard,” Hilligsberg said. “It’s about sticking to fundamentals and all the little things and if you can do that, you’re halfway there.”
On the flip side is a young Burrell team that is coming off a seven-win season with a new coach trying to get back to where the program was three years ago when it reached the WPIAL semifinals and qualified for the PIAA playoffs.
“We’re learning more about ourselves every day,” Burrell bench boss Brandon Daughtry said. “Winning is always the goal when we take the field, but often times you learn more from the losses.”
The Titans scored two runs in each of the first two innings.
Freshman Brianna Wells singled and stole second, then scored on a Samantha Tomko infield single and throw error. Tomko later scored on a Rylie Dobnak groundout.
In the second inning, Kaleigh Tatters walked and Amelia Novotni singled. West Mifflin pitcher Annabelle Graham sacrificed both runners up with Tatters scoring on an Adilee Salopek groundout and Wills driving in a run with her second single.
West Mifflin added three more runs in the third inning on a leadoff triple by Mia Bey, an error and three straight singles by Aubrey Jaskulski, Tatters and Novotni, the Titans sophomore catcher who finished with three hits.
Burrell scored its lone run in the fourth inning with two outs when junior Cayla Brothers tripled down the right-field line and then scored when senior Jenna Morrison connected on a double off the right-center fence.
The Titans added two more runs in the sixth inning, which was more than enough for the winning pitcher Graham. She held the Bucs to one run on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
“(Graham) was very good with her outside pitches,” Novotni said. “Her low and outside pitches are very good. We’ve known each other since we were three (years old) so we’ve always been like a pair.”
Buccaneers junior pitcher Shelby Novak suffered the loss. She allowed nine runs, six earned on 13 hits with three walks and one strikeout.
“Shelby pitched great,” Daughtry said. “This was the first day we were hoping to stretch her pitch count out a little bit, and she threw well. After missing most of last year, we knew a good team like West Mifflin would be a good test for her and she did everything we asked.”
Though the Burrell defense was charged with two errors, Addy Wojtczak and Leah Waldsmith made above-average plays with the leather.
“We strive to be a solid defensive team,” Daughtry said. “Addy has a great arm at third, and Leah is able to cover a lot of ground in the outfield. We have a lot of good athletes, so we’re comfortable moving people around if we need to.”
The Bucs drop to 1-2 and visit Leechburg on Friday before starting off Section 1-3A play next week.
“We’re definitely excited to get into it next week,” Daughtry said. “We have a very competitive section so we’ve got to be ready to play every day.”
West Mifflin continues to roll on, improving to 5-0 overall this season. It defeated Belle Vernon on Tuesday in its Section 2-4A opener.
“We want to win the section, and it’s not going to be easy, but you try to win the section and win a WPIAL championship and then win a state championship,” Hilligsberg said. “Those are our goals every year and keep climbing the mountain.”