The Plum softball team’s offense was potent during the regular season with power throughout the lineup.
The Mustangs continued that Tuesday in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs at Gateway.
Plum hit five home runs and had seven total extra-base hits as part of an 11-hit attack against three Trinity pitchers in a 12-2, six-inning victory over No. 7 Hillers.
“It feels good,” Plum coach Phil DiLonardo said. “All three phases contributed today: defense, pitching and offense. That was our goal today. We wanted to play well and let whatever happened happen. A lot of good stuff happened today.”
The win snapped a seven-game playoff losing streak that extended to 2018. Three of those seven losses came at Gateway.
There was no losing for Plum at Gateway this time around.
“Hitting is contagious,” said DiLonardo, who saw his team improve to 14-5 overall. “Either you are hitting it a lot, or you’re not at all. We didn’t have a lot on how they were, so I was really happy with what happened.”
Plum advances to the quarterfinals and a game against No. 2 Thomas Jefferson (16-3) on Thursday at a site and time to be determined. The Jaguars beat No. 15 South Fayette, 3-2, in the first round Tuesday.
“It was probably a little closer than (Thomas Jefferson) would have wanted it, but they are really good team,” DiLonardo said.
“We’ll get to practice tomorrow and get ready. I’ve never been there (to the quarterfinals), but I like being there.”
Trinity, the third-place team in a competitive Section 4 behind Thomas Jefferson and Baldwin, concluded its season at 17-4.
“We ran into a buzzsaw today,” Hillers coach Shawn Gray said. “They were hitting balls everywhere and to both sides of the wall. We couldn’t keep it in the fences. Congratulations to them. I threw everything at them but the kitchen sink, but it didn’t work.”
The 11 hits and 12 runs were of comfort to senior starter Riley Stephans, who scattered four hits, walked one and fanned two over six innings.
“Riley was pretty dominant today,” DiLonardo said. “That is the Riley we need going forward. She is very capable of doing that every time she goes out there. That win probably exorcised a lot of demons for her, too.”
Plum loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first and got one run.
Senior catcher Liana Yusko singled sharply to left to lead off the game and came around to score on a groundout off the bat of senior third baseman Mackenzie Marotta.
The Mustangs kept it going in the second, adding to their lead with four more runs on four hits and chasing Trinity starter Maddie Ray.
Junior Sydney Pici doubled to lead of the inning and quickly scored when sophomore Abbey Leff followed with a single to center. Yusko smacked a double off reliever Gabby Humphreys to drive in two and extend Plum’s lead to 4-0.
Sophomore Lily DeLuca grounded out for the second out of the inning, but Yusko, on third after a single from senior Jaiden Gentile moved her up 60 feet, came home for a 5-0 advantage.
The hits kept coming for Plum in the third as Pici delivered again. This time, she crushed a Humphreys offering over the fence in left-center to make it 7-0. That was the final batter Humphreys faced before being spelled by Elora Friend.
Trinity got on the board with two in the bottom of the third. Nina Christy drove in the first run with a groundout to short, and the second run scored on a fielding error.
But Plum got both runs back quickly as Stephans and DeLuca belted back-to-back home runs with one out in the top of the fourth.
Yusko’s big day continued in the fifth with a two-run homer. She finished 3 for 5 with four RBIs.
Freshman Ava Bernosky got a chance at the plate in a pinch-hitting role for Plum in the top of the sixth, and she joined the fun with a solo home run to center in her first playoff at-bat.
Gray said he tried to change the speed and location with the three different pitchers to see what might slow down Plum.
“But they were hitting everything that was thrown at them,” he said. “God bless them because they are a good hitting team.”