The Shaler softball team had its sights set on a second straight WPIAL Class 5A championship Wednesday afternoon at Lilly Field at Cal (Pa.).
Section rival North Hills, the No. 11 seed, had designs on denying the Titans a repeat performance while capping a Cinderella run to gold.
Shaler would not be denied.
The top-seeded Titans pounded out 14 hits and played errorless defense while riding the clutch pitching of senior Bria Bosiljevac to a 10-2 victory.
“We all came together as a group and were able to overcome a few struggles and some adversity to get a great win,” Bosiljevac said. “That made this win even sweeter.”
Shaler coach Tom Sorce said he was proud of his team’s effort on the field and also grateful to have their support in the wake of the recent passing of his mother.
“This group took it upon themselves when I missed practice a couple of times, and they just kept fighting through,” he said. “They said, ‘We’re going to do this for you.’ This is a very special group of kids.”
Sorce said it was impressive to beat a team like North Hills three times in one season.
“I have a lot of respect for North Hills,” he said. “Their coach (Libby Gasior) is a friend of mine. It’s always a battle with her. Nobody has hit (Bosiljevac) like they hit her today.”
Shaler (21-1), with a senior class that is now 75-12 in four seasons, will turn its attention to District 3’s fourth-place team in the PIAA first round Monday.
North Hills (12-8) will begin its state tournament run Monday against a representative from a District 6-8-9 subdivision.
“They had a really good run in the WPIAL, and to bounce back in the state tournament is their next goal,” Gasior said. “We’re going to take a couple days and reload and think about what got us to this point.”
Shaler had outscored its first three WPIAL opponents by a combined 31-0 before North Hills scored in the top of the second to end that streak.
First baseman Audri Baumgardner led off the second with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Emma Sutton.
“We were trying to get some pressure on (Bosiljevac) as not a lot of runs have been scored against her,” Gasior said. “We came in with the idea of being aggressive.”
Bosiljevac was able to overcome two singles and a hit batter in the top of the first to keep the Indians off the board.
“That first inning was a little rough,” Sorce said. “I just said that we needed to settle and calm down, and we did. We just played our game.”
North Hills closed to within one run at 3-2 in the top of the fifth on an RBI single from cleanup hitter Abby Sutton.
But Shaler responded with six runs — two in the fifth and four more in the sixth — to put the game away.
Titans center fielder Addison Aleski left no doubt with a grand slam in the sixth to put her team up 10-2. She doubled in a run in the fifth and also singled, finishing the day 3 for 4.
“I knew it was gone,” Aleski said of the feeling as soon as the ball left her bat.
Bosiljevac fought through a few challenges, including adjusting to some soft spots in the landing area of the pitching circle. She injured her left leg leaping to catch a ball thrown in from center field on Sutton’s RBI single in the sixth.
After a few minutes to recover, she stayed in the game and proceeded to strike out Emma Culver with two outs and two Indians runners on base.
Culver entered the game 6 for 10 in the playoffs with two home runs and five RBIs. She was 0 for 3 Wednesday.
“When I went down, I knew I was coming back, no matter what,” Bosiljevac said. “I couldn’t leave my team behind. I was able to refocus and throw spins and get that out. I knew everyone had my back in that situation.”
She then retired the side in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Bosiljevac gave up seven hits and one walk while striking out two.
“Bria is a bulldog out there in the circle,” Sorce said. “I thought we might have to bring another pitcher in, but she refused to come out. That really lifted the team. She wasn’t hitting a lot of her pitches with her location early on. But the girls made the plays they needed to make behind her.”
Abby Sutton and Brianna Zwick each finished with two hits to lead the Indians.
“We left too many runners on (six) and didn’t cash in on the big moments, which has kind of been our thing in our playoff run,” Gasior said.
“When we put pressure on, we had been able to get a big hit. Hats off to Bria. She’s a very good pitcher and a great leader for them. I think there were a couple breaks in the action which kind of killed our momentum, but that is part of the game. I understand that.”