It was billed as a must-see matchup pitting two defending champions against each other at the peak of their powers, but Thursday’s WPIAL Class 2A title game turned out to be just another mismatch for Neshannock.
Arguably the greatest softball dynasty the WPIAL has ever seen, the Lancers raced out to an early lead against Chartiers-Houston and never looked back on their way to a 7-1 victory at PennWest California University’s Lilley Field for their fourth consecutive WPIAL crown. With the win, Neshannock (22-0) tied its own WPIAL-record 48-game winning streak set from 2022-23, and the Lancers have now won 81 games in a row against WPIAL opponents.
“The last few days, we had great practices. Yesterday, we spent about an hour-and-a-half in the pouring down rain,” said Neshannock coach Jackie Lash. “It was almost fun. They just didn’t want to stop. … They just love to do this.”
Senior pitcher Addy Frye turned in another magnificent championship performance, striking out 11 while allowing one run on four hits and one walk in a complete-game gem. A Providence recruit, Frye now holds a career record of 77-1, and the reigning Pennsylvania Pitcher of the Year has allowed a grand total of four runs in her four WPIAL championship victories.
Keep in mind, the Buccaneers (20-2) came into the game with one of the WPIAL’s highest-scoring offenses at an average of more than 10 runs per game.
“We did a lot of preparation this week for this team,” Frye said. “We did a little bit of a ‘theme week’ to have a little more fun with it. The team was definitely ready to play.”
Previously known as one of the top third basemen in the state, senior Gabby Quinn shifted from the hot corner to the backstop this season to fill a much-needed void behind the plate for the Lancers. After making a seamless transition to one of the game’s most difficult positions, Quinn’s offensive numbers have been better than ever this season — and she came up clutch on the big stage once again on Thursday, finishing 2 for 4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored from the cleanup spot.
“[Frye] makes it so easy for me. She’s throwing strikes the whole time. All I have to do is catch it,” Quinn said. “Having been here a few times and knowing what it feels like, I definitely was able to come in with a lot cooler of a demeanor. It’s just really nice to be able to pick up your younger teammates or just the whole team.”
After winning the Class 1A title a season ago, Chartiers-Houston bumped up to Class 2A for the current two-year cycle, setting up the possibility of a champ-versus-champ collision in the WPIAL final. The Buccaneers feature a trio of all-state selections in senior pitcher Meadow Ferri, senior catcher Ella Richey and junior shortstop Lauren Rush, but overall, Neshannock had the superior ballclub in all facets of the game — especially on defense, where four costly errors by Chartiers-Houston doomed any hope the Buccaneers had of pulling off the upset.
Also a Kent State recruit along with Quinn and fellow Lancers standouts Miley Anderson and Jaidon Nogay, Ferri allowed five earned runs on eight hits in six innings of work. Richey scored the only run of the game for Chartiers-Houston when she led off the top of the sixth inning with a triple, then came home to score on an errant throw. But in the end, it proved to be too little, too late against a pitcher as dominant as “The Great 8.”
“I had a brief conversation with Addy when she was warming up today, and I just said, ‘Hey, at this level of the playoffs, you know there are going to be good batters. You should expect it. There are going to be balls hit into play,” Lash said. “I just told her, ‘Hey, think about what our practices have been like. Your team is not letting you down. They’re making the plays behind you.’
“What more can I say? She is great.”
It didn’t take long for Neshannock to get on the board first, as Anderson reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the first inning before coming home to score. Gabriella Antuono’s RBI single stretched the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third, then Quinn delivered a massive two-out, two-run double in the fourth followed by an RBI double by Gianna Paglia.
Another defensive miscue by Chartiers-Houston in the bottom of the fifth allowed another run to score, and just like that, the Buccaneers were staring at a virtually insurmountable seven-run deficit against one of the WPIAL’s greatest pitchers in recent memory.
From there, the rest was history — in more ways than one.
“It’s a long season. You’ve got to have fun,” Lash said. “These girls are able to turn on the switch and then go back out and focus and do what you need them to do. … You can find really good teams that have great, great pitching, or a pretty good catcher. I feel like we have it all.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
