From the second the ball jumped from her bat, freshman Chloe Borelli couldn’t take her eyes off it. When she finally did, the Mt. Pleasant freshman had nearly reached second base while her teammates were rushing toward her to celebrate her winning hit in the WPIAL semifinals.
Such a thrill for a young varsity softball player.
“It’s just like overwhelming, almost,” Borelli said of her two-out, RBI double that walked-off No. 3 Mt. Pleasant’s 3-2 victory in eight innings Wednesday against No. 7 Keystone Oaks at Norwin High School and sent the Vikings to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game.
“I’ve definitely had my share of game-winning hits, but nothing as big as this,” she said.
Though outhit 7-4, Section 1 champion Mt. Pleasant (15-4) advances to play top-seeded South Park (19-1) in the WPIAL championship game on either May 27 or 28 at PennWest’s Lilley Field in California, Washington County.
Borelli was gushing with joy over her big hit long after the game’s end. She mingled with friends and family, including her father, Mt. Pleasant assistant Joshua Borelli.
“I felt it instantly off the barrel and I was like, ‘This has the chance to win the game.’ And then, I saw it off the bat and I was like, ‘You know, if it’s an out, it’s the third out. So, I might as well watch it.’ After I saw that it wasn’t going to be caught, I said, ‘Yes!’ ”
The game was delayed for an hour by lightning in the bottom of the second inning.
When play resumed, winning pitcher Danica Trainer, who struck out six and didn’t walk a batter, nursed a 2-0 lead until the sixth inning, when Keystone Oaks (16-5) tied the score, setting the stage for a wild finish.
“I’m just so proud of the girls and the fight,” Mt. Pleasant coach Paul Reho said.
And a fight it was — for both teams.
Hard-luck loser Kennadi Smith, a Chatham recruit, retired 17 consecutive Mt. Pleasant batters between Carly Surma’s second-inning triple and her leadoff double in the eighth that ignited the winning rally.
“I think, probably, the break hurt us,” Reho said. “We had momentum at that time.”
Before Mt. Pleasant’s winning rally, Smith had given up just two hits and struck out five to go with one walk.
“She’s a great kid and a fantastic pitcher,” Keystone Oaks coach Keith Buckley said. “She hits her spots and gets you to do what she wants you to do.”
Before the delay, Mt. Pleasant roughed up Smith in the first inning.
Borelli’s run-scoring triple scored freshman Sadie Poole, who’d reached on a two-base error. After Smith hit Jenna Whipke, she walked Trainer. One out later, Borelli was picked off third by Keystone Oaks catcher Evie Kyper.
But Mt. Pleasant pushed across a second run when Whipke scored on another error.
The Vikings wasted Surma’s leadoff triple in the second when Smith caught Autumn Jurkovic-Kuzma’s lineout and doubled off Surma at third before striking out Poole.
Keystone Oaks knotted the score in the sixth on an error and Kyper’s RBI double.
“They got runners on, for sure,” Reho said. “It’s kind of the way the season’s gone. But (Trainer) has done a really good job of not allowing runners to score. That inning where they got just two runs, I’ll take that.”
For Borelli and Mt. Pleasant, the next step is to try and win a championship.
It likely won’t be easy.
South Park, which ousted No. 4 Ellwood City, 2-0, in the other semifinal at Deer Lakes High School, won Section 3 by matching Mt. Pleasant’s section record of 10-0.
Borelli’s big hit kept the Vikings in playoff contention. She began running to first while gazing up as the ball sailed toward an outfield gap with Keystone Oaks’ Kylie Stahl frantically trying to cut it off.
When it landed beyond Stahl and started to roll, Surma raced home with the winning run.
“To see all my teammates be so happy and just, like, so proud is just a whole different feeling,” an emotional Borelli said. “They told me they love me, and they’re really proud of me.”