WINDBER — Perennial PIAA softball contender Hempfield Area scored the first four runs of a Class 6A quarterfinal game Thursday afternoon.
And that turned out to be just enough to hold off a spirited comeback attempt by Chambersburg and enable the Spartans to claim a 4-3 victory at the Iron Horse Sports Complex in Windber.
Bree Paetow
The Trojans are eliminated with a 19-6 record. Hempfield Area (23-1), the District 7 champion, will play Nazareth (20-6), which edged Cumberland Valley 5-4, in the semifinals on Monday.
"I'm just proud of the girls — they will never give up," Trojan coach Chris Skultety said.
The Spartans scored a run in the first inning off Chambersburg pitcher Kori Leedy, two more in the third and the eventual winning run in the fifth. That was enough to hold off the Trojans, who tallied three runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Skultety said, "We had some chances early with some baserunners — we didn't expect to get the walks from her that we did. But their D-1 players made some good plays on defense. We hit the ball, but didn't really make good contact until late."
Hempfield pitcher Rylie Miller, who entered the game with a 0.48 earned run average, had handcuffed Chambersburg on just two hits through five innings.
But Bree Paetow led off the sixth with a high flyball to left-center that carried over the fence for a home run, her third of the season. After two straight outs, the Trojans got it going again. Sanay Jones drew a walk and Kylee Perry picked up a base hit.
Marley Onomastico
Marley Onomastico then came through with a huge two-out hit, a line-drive double to the fence in right-center that brought in two runs and brought her team to within one run.
"She collided with an umpire near second base when the ball was still at the fence," Skultety said. "She should have been given a triple, but they didn't agree."
Then Miller got the final out of the inning, and put the Trojans down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh to end the game.
The Spartans scored in the opening inning after Claire Mitchell led off with a triple to right field. Leedy was able to record two outs, but Allie Cervola notched a base hit to center field to make it 1-0.
In the third, a two-out rally produced a pair of huge runs. Lauren Howard was credited with a single to left and moved to second base on a misplay. Cervola followed with a double to centerfield to plate one run, and Miller helped her own cause with a base hit grounded up the middle to score Cervola and make it 3-0.
Howard doubled again with one out in the fifth and ended up scoring when Miller dumped a blooper into left field and Howard was able to scoot home.
Leedy (18-6) was touched for 9 hits, 4 earned runs and 1 walk, while striking out one batter.
Skultety said, "All of their runs scored with two outs. And three of them scored when they blooped in a hit. Kori made some good pitches that just fell in."
Miller finished with a 5-hitter, with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts.
Hempfield has won four PIAA softball titles, including a three-year streak in 2016-17-18. The Spartans, who have six Division I recruits on their team, have now knocked Chambersburg out of the PIAA Tournament four times in the last 10 years — 2016 and 2017 in the semifinals, 2019 in the first round and 2025 in the quarterfinals.
The Trojans have only two seniors on this team — Leedy and catcher Karley Skultety.
"The seniors showed a lot of dedication and helped carry on the Chambersburg tradition," coach Skultety said. "We're still one of the best teams in the state — of our six losses, four came against teams in the state semifinals and two were to CV. And we had a couple of wins against those teams, too."
