SLIPPERY ROCK — A pitchers’ duel is what was expected, and that is what was delivered Monday in a PIAA Class 3A softball semifinal between District 10 Sharon and WPIAL champion South Park at Slippery Rock University’s Kasnevich Field.
Tigers junior Maddy Vogan, a Penn State commit, and Eagles senior Sydney Sekely, a Gannon recruit, matched talents in the sun with a trip to the PIAA championship game on the line.
Eight innings weren’t enough to decide a winner.
But in the bottom of the ninth, a hit and an error brought home the game’s only run as Sharon (24-0) advanced to Thursday’s title game at Penn State with a 1-0 victory.
“We talked about it at the beginning of the year in our first meeting that we are going to embrace this pressure of our backs against the wall and how we were going to come out and do what we were expected to do,” said Sharon coach Wade Vogan, whose Tigers lost in the state semifinals two years ago and in the quarterfinals last year.”
The result was Sharon’s 16th shutout in its past 17 games. District 3 champion Susquenita scored twice in a 7-2 Tigers quarterfinal win last Thursday.
“Where we are going to go is amazing for these kids,” coach Vogan said.
As much as there was elation for the Sharon faithful, there were equal parts heartbreak for a South Park team hoping to get to the state title game after its run to a WPIAL championship and victories in its first two PIAA games over District 10 runner-up Hickory and District 6 champ Westmont Hilltop.
The Eagles (22-2), in the state semifinals after two straight PIAA first-round exits, lost for just the second time this season. They end their postseason run giving up just three runs in six games between the WPIAL and state tournaments.
“We had opportunities. Not many, but we had them,” South Park coach RJ Matetic said. “Maddy Vogan did a nice job. She pitched very well. So did Sydney. We expected that from both pitchers. I knew the game was going to come down to who might make a mistake. But we needed to put the ball in play more in key situations against Vogan, and hat’s off to her. We worked on it for two days.
“Sometimes, things happen like this. It is heartbreaking and disappointing. But all the credit to the girls. They had a fantastic season. They won the WPIAL and were state semifinalists. Did we want to be at Penn State on Thursday? Absolutely. Could we have gotten there? Definitely. But sometimes the chips fall the wrong way. Unfortunately for us, it went that way today.”
Monday’s semifinal contest was a rematch of last year’s PIAA first-round game won by the Tigers, 2-1.
In Monday’s meeting, Vogan (18) and Sekely (13) combined to strike out 31 batters. Vogan allowed just one hit. Sekely surrendered two.
The second hit for Sharon led to the win.
Tigers sophomore center fielder Marley Bundrant struck out twice and flew out to right before leading off the bottom of the ninth with a double.
Left fielder Brooklyn Ruzich, also a sophomore, was then charged with laying down a bunt to move Bundrant to third.
However, Sekely came out of the circle to field the ball, and her throw to first was errant. The ball went into foul territory down the right field line. Bundrant raced home, and the Sharon players, coaches and fans erupted in celebration.
It was the sixth time in the game a Sharon batter laid down a bunt.
“Sekely is a heck of a player, and she’s been bringing it for four years,” coach Vogan said. “We weren’t putting the ball in play enough. Marley had a huge swing there for the leadoff double, and Brooklyn was going to bunt. It was that simple. She stuck with the pressure and put the ball in play.”
Vogan struck out the side in the top of the first, extending her streak of consecutive outs by strikeout in the PIAA playoffs to 30.
She proceeded to strike out the first 11 batters she faced — running the streak to 39 — before Sekely popped out to Tigers second baseman Addie McFann along the foul line in shallow right to close out the top of the fourth.
Vogan was perfect into the sixth before Eagles third baseman Paige Van Dyke singled with one out. Second baseman Addison O’Connor then was hit by a Vogan pitch to give South Park its first scoring threat of the game.
But Vogan struck out shortstop Sydney Dubyak and catcher Emma Hays to quell the Eagles uprising.
South Park then went down in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
Sekely and the Eagles defense worked their way out of early trouble after an error and a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the first put a Sharon runner on second with one out.
Sekely then hit Mya Bundrant to put two runners on.
But she came back and induced a pop up to second and got a strikeout to end the Tigers threat.
Sekely retired six in a row before Vogan delivered the game’s first hit, a crushed ball to left center for a triple with one out.
McFann followed with a bunt back to Sekely, who didn’t make a throw to any base. McFann then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Mya Bundrant.
But a standout play on a grounder to short — the throw from Dubyak to a stretching Grace Kempton at first — kept the Tigers off the scoreboard.
Sharon threatened in the fifth inning without a hit.
Tigers shortstop Alauna Wilson was hit by a Sekely offering with one out, and South Park coaches chose to intentionally walk Vogan to put two runners on. Vogan reached base all four times she went to the plate.
Wilson then stole third to put the go-ahead run 60 feet away.
But Sekely again came up huge with strikeouts of McFann and Mya Bundrant to keep the game scoreless.
Sekely retired 11 of 12 overall before the Marley Bundrant double in the ninth.
“Sydney’s performance was freakin’ awesome,” Matetic said. “That lineup is so strong, and they had just two hits, and she had 13 strikeouts. She battled and worked out of a few situations with clutch pitches.”