Reversal of fortune: Lady Mikes headed to PIAA final after stunning comeback
VENETIA â Round 2 went to Carys McConnell.
And Round 4 of the clash of softball rivals Carmichaels and Chartiers-Houston, this time in the PIAA Class A semifinals, went to McConnell and the Lady Mikes.
McConnellâs two-out double to deep right field on a 3-0 pitch sent Bailey Barnyak speeding around from first base to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as Carmichaels completed a stunning comeback to defeat the Lady Bucs, 5-4, at Peterswood Park on Monday afternoon.
Carmichaels advanced to Thursdayâs state championship game at Penn State University against either Old Forge or DuBois Central Catholic. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.
âItâs what Iâve been working towards the past two seasons,â Barnyak said. âIt has sunk in. Iâm ready for it.â
The Lady Mikes (19-3) rallied from a 4-0 deficit with four runs on just one hit in the bottom of the fifth inning, taking advantage of four Chartiers-Houston errors.
âThatâs the one thing about his team, they never give up,â Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs said. âThey just play and donât panic. Thatâs the way weâve been all year.â
The score remained tied until the bottom of the seventh when Barnyak drew a two-out walk from Meadow Ferri, who pitched brilliantly in defeat.
Up stepped McConnell, who had faced a similar situation against Ferri the last time the two teams met in the WPIAL semifinals when she struck out with the tying run on base to end the game.
This time Ferri seemed to be very careful, throwing three straight balls.
âI thought she was unintentionally, intentionally walking her,â Briggs said. âThey walked her a ton this year. She looked at me but I didnât give her a take sign.â
McConnell was guessing she would be intentionally walked.
âI thought they werenât going to pitch to me at all,â McConnell said.
Instead, McConnell zoned in on the 3-0 pitch and sent it flying to deep right field where Emily Swarrow made a leaping attempt but couldnât make the catch.
âI thought she was going to catch it,â McConnell said.
Barnyak never stopped and raced from first to home to score the winning run without a throw.
âHe (Briggs) said two outs, youâre going, so thatâs what I did,â Barnyak said. âInsane that we made it but I knew we could do it. Iâm proud of everyone, especially of Carys.â
âIâm happy that I got her this time,â McConnell said of winning the second huge postseason duel with Ferri.
âShe hit a good pitch,â C-H coach Tricia Alderson said. âI thought we had a shot out there in right field but it carried a little bit. Sheâs a great hitter.â
Chartiers-Houston (20-3), which went on to defeat Union to win the WPIAL championship after its last meeting with Carmichaels, saw its season come to an end with a 20-3 record. The two ended their season series splitting their four games.
The Lady Bucs had a chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh. Ella Richey drew a one-out walk and tried to score from first when Lauren Rush reached on a throwing error. Lady Mikes right fielder Avery Voithofer backed up on the play and made a strong throw to catcher Kaitlyn Wagget who tagged Richey out.
âI was headed that way and then saw the ball was high and said, oh shoot, and tried to grab it as quick as I could,â Voithofer said. âI just turned and let it loose.â
âI just kept yelling, âAvery, four, Avery, fourâ and she made a great throw,â Waggett said. âI tagged her right before she hit the plate.â
Mondayâs game looked like an outlier of the previous three close battles between Carmichaels and Chartiers-Houston, one of which went 15 innings, with the Lady Bucs seeming to be in complete control with a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.
âI could tell we were getting down on ourselves a little,â Barnyak said. âSo we pulled the team together and said, âHey, look at the score, itâs fine, we can work through it.â And thatâs what we did. We put everything behind us and came back.â
Carmichaels took advantage of four Chartiers-Houston errors in an improbable rally that began with Voithoferâs one-out walk, Ferriâs first of the game.
Duski Staggers bunted Voithofer to second and she scored from there when Alayna Simon reached on an infield error. Waggett followed with a hard single to right, the Lady Mikesâ only hit of the inning, and took second on the throw to third which Simon beat. Barnyakâs grounder resulted in another error that allowed Simon and Waggett to score, the latter being safe when catcher Richey couldnât hang onto the throw home. McConnellâs spinning grounder resulted in yet another infield error that allowed Barnyak to race home with the tying run from second.
âIâm so proud of the way we just stayed in there, hung around and made some things happen there at the end,â said Briggs, who pointed out his team put the ball in play which gave them a chance.
âThatâs what we tried to do. We went to the bunt game a little bit there and got some things going and got to the top of the order and got some runs across. We have some speed and some good base-running at the top with Katy Waggett, Bailey, Carys. Theyâre great baserunners and they can move and cause problems.â
Chartiers-Houston out-hit the Lady Mikes 7-3.
The Lady Bucs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Rush hit a one-out double to deep left-center and scored on Taryne Drilakâs double down the left-field line.
The Lady Mikes avoided further damage in the inning when left fielder Payton Plavi came in and made a diving catch of Seanna Riggleâs two-out sinking fly ball.
Charttiers-Houston made it 2-0 in the second inning. Richey singled, took second on a throwing error on the play and advanced to third on Rushâs ground out. Ferri followed with an RBI single to center.
Ferri retired the first 10 batters until Barnyak reached on an error in the fourth inning. Ali Jacobs broke up the no-hitter with a two-out, line drive single to right, sending Barnyak to third but Ferri got a strikeout to end the threat.
The Lady Bucs extended their lead to 4-0 in the fifth when Alana Palone singled to center and Richey clubbed a two-run homer over the left field fence.
The game would turn around quickly in the bottom of the inning.
âWe gave them all of their runs other than the last one,â Alderson said. âOur defense broke down and that was the game.â
âItâs hard,â Briggs said of what it takes to reach a state final. âYou have to play well and it takes a little bit of luck.â