UNIVERSITY PARK — Union softball coach Doug Fisher knew his team would produce runs. He just hoped they would come earlier than they did in the tense playoff games leading up to the state championship game.
His daughter Irelyn got the party started right away in the first inning.
The junior catcher hit a two-run home run, her seventh homer of the playoffs, in the bottom of the first inning. The Scotties continued the scoring from there, plating runs in four of the six innings, and held on to defeat Holy Cross, 7-3, to repeat as PIAA Class A champions Thursday at Penn State.
Olivia Williams led off the game with a single for Union (23-2). After a foul out, Fisher drove the first pitch she saw off of the top of the Beard Field scoreboard in left field to give Union the early 2-0 advantage.
The Akron commit hit a home run in six of the team’s seven playoff games. It was her 16th home run of the season and 37th of her career, both program records.
After coming from behind to win the prior two rounds of the state playoffs, striking first was paramount.
“Honestly, just hit a home run,” Fisher said of her approach at her first at-bat. “I knew we had to get ahead. The last game, we didn’t get ahead and waited until the sixth inning. So I was just like, ‘I’ll hit a home run.’”
“That was huge,” Doug Fisher said of his daughter’s home run. “We didn’t want to start off slow again, and that was a great way to kickstart it.”
After the long ball to start the game, Union turned to small ball in the bottom of the third inning. Williams led off the inning with a walk and stole second base. Maddie Settle laid down a bunt and avoided a tag at first base to reach on an infield single. Williams, a Findlay commit, scored all the way from second on the play.
“The pitcher picked it up, and I knew the only way I could be safe was if I got down,” Settle said. “She was right beside me when she got the ball, and I got down and got under it.”
Settle scored later in the inning on a squeeze bunt by Naveah Hunt to give Union a 4-0 lead.
“I thought we had a nice mix (at the plate) and got that (squeeze) in there as a surprise,” Doug Fisher said.
Holy Cross (21-4) did not go away quietly. The middle of the order provided a spark in the top of the fourth inning. Jules Galella led off the inning with a single, and Peyton Graboski followed with an RBI double to score the first Crusader run of the game.
Union starter Korynne Shannon was able to limit the damage, stranding a runner on third base for the third time in the first four innings.
Sami Confer got the run back immediately for the Scotties. The No. 9 hitter hit a two-out single and advanced to third base on a Williams single to left. Confer scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.
Holy Cross starting pitcher Ava Schmidt helped herself in the top of the fifth with a solo home run to cut the Union lead to 5-2.
The Crusaders looked poised for another big inning in the top of the sixth. Galella again led off with a single, followed by Claire Helring driving a one-out double off the left-field wall.
Union had to endure a rain delay as well as the the Holy Cross rally. Before the tying run could come to the plate, the game was halted due to a weather delay with a storm front coming through the State College area. A 91-degree sunny day turned to dark clouds and thunderbolts.
“(The delay) was nice because it gave me a break because it was very hot,” Shannon said. “I honestly tried to sleep (during the delay) because I didn’t know how long it was going to take.”
Holy Cross coach Joe Ross said his team was well-prepared for the game and for a delay.
“We are prepared for anything,” Ross said. “Once we got into district playoffs, we actually practiced a rain delay. They think I’m nuts, but I told them they’re getting in here and doing it. We were ready. We just couldn’t get a base hit.”
After a delay of 1 hour, 46 minutes, the Crusaders got another run when McKinley Griffiths reached on a fielder’s choice. Her ground ball was fielded by Shannon, but her throw to the plate was low and Galella scored.
Shannon buckled down and got a strikeout and groundout to end the threat with the tying run in scoring position.
“I knew I had it in me,” Shannon said. “I just had to settle down. I was obviously amped up.”
Union got two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Shannon led off with a double, followed by Emily Ross’s second double of the game to score Shannon’s courtesy runner, Erykah Reighert. Ross scored when Williams hit into a fielder’s choice error, the exact same way that Union gave up a run in the top of the inning, but this time with Schmidt’s throw to the plate going off target.
Ava Schmidt hit a one-out triple in the final inning for Holy Cross, but Shannon got her eighth strikeout and a groundout to end the game.
Union had a hit in all seven innings, with 10 total in the game. Seven of the nine starters had a hit for the Scotties.
“I said to our players after the game that, if we’re going to lose, I’m thrilled that we lose to a team like Union,” Ross said. “They are an excellent team with depth through the lineup, one through nine. They have solid pitching. And they play the game the way it is supposed to be played.”
Shannon (19-1) earned the win for Union, striking out eight and surrendering just one walk. She gave up three runs, two earned, on seven hits.
“I’m very proud of Korynne,” Williams said. “This entire team stepped up. I’m really proud of everyone.”
Schmidt took the loss for Holy Cross. She had seven strikeouts and five walks. She scattered 10 hits and gave up seven runs, four earned.
The Union senior class of Williams, Settle, Olivia Benedict and Chloe Confer finish with state silver medals and back-to-back PIAA gold medals to finish their careers.
“It’s honestly crazy,” Williams said, “being here four years ago in the same exact position as we are now and ending it the same way we ended freshman year (in the state championship game). This team has meant so much to me the last four years that I can’t even put into words.”