One year removed from a heart-wrenching loss against Chartiers-Houston in its attempt for a WPIAL championship three-peat, Union found itself back in the big game for the sixth year in a row — and Mia Preuhs wasn’t about to let the Scotties settle for silver again.
A senior pitcher and two-way standout who has started since her freshman year, Preuhs pitched the game of her life in Thursday’s WPIAL Class 1A championship game against Carmichaels (16-1), twirling a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts in a 3-0 triumph at PennWest California University’s Lilley Field. The win marks the third WPIAL title in school history for Union (19-2), and it’s certainly no coincidence that Preuhs has been in the circle for all three.
“I didn’t think [a no-hitter] would happen today, especially because sophomore year, they did hit the ball [against me],” Preuhs said. “After the first inning, I kind of shook the nerves a little bit, and I was able to just keep dealing.”
In a masterful outing that will likely go down as the defining performance of her stellar career, Preuhs finished with 16 strikeouts and four walks while adding a third WPIAL softball title to go with her trio of WPIAL gold medals in basketball. All in all, she has played a vital role in elevating the Scotties into one of the premier small-school athletic hotbeds in the area.
“I’m very glad I got to end off the season with one of my best friends [senior outfielder Addie Nogay],” Preuhs said. “I’ve been playing with this team, obviously, for four years. We’re just all so close.”
Even in a losing effort, Carmichaels junior Bailey Barnyak had a tremendous game of her own, striking out 12 and walking two while allowing three runs on four hits in six innings of work. And if there is any consolation the Mighty Mikes can take away from this game, it’s the knowledge that they reached the PIAA championship game a year ago without winning a WPIAL title — so why not try to do it again?
“It’s a tough haul. It’s hard to get up there [to the state finals],” said Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs. “We’ve got to regroup this weekend and be ready on Monday. To me, the first one [in the state playoffs] is always the toughest.”
For the first four-plus innings, it seemed like Thursday’s game might find a way to end without either team getting a hit. Both Preuhs and Barnyak started out the game by striking out the side in back-to-back innings, setting the tone for a game that played out like a polar opposite from the previous championship clash between the teams in 2023, won by Union in a 10-8 slugfest.
Finally, in the bottom of the fifth inning, No. 9 hitter Maggie Settle broke up Barnyak’s no-hit bid by poking a single to right field. The Scotties were unable to capitalize in the fifth, but they didn’t waste their next opportunity in the bottom of the sixth.
Following a two-out double by Olivia Benedict, Maggie Joseph beat out an infield single to short, then Benedict came around to score on a throwing error to break the scoreless tie. In the very next at-bat, sophomore Korynne Shannon clubbed a two-run home run over the center-field fence to send Union’s dugout into a frenzy and give Preuhs a comfortable three-run cushion going into the seventh.
“I was just excited, because I hadn’t gotten a hit all game,” Shannon said. “I’ve been focusing on my swing a lot. … I did watch it, actually. I watched someone catch it [in the crowd].”
The No. 7 hitter for the Scotties, Shannon has provided massive pop for Union in the postseason. Coming off a two-homer outburst in the team’s semifinal win against Jefferson-Morgan, her homer on Thursday was just another reminder that the Scotties are as dangerous as any lineup around from the top to the bottom of the order.
“I was going to bunt her,” said Union coach Doug Fisher. “Good thing I didn’t do that. It could have been a different outcome.”
Taking the rubber in the top of the seventh while on the brink of history, Preuhs had to endure some major adversity before finishing the job.
First, Ali Jacobs led off the inning by reaching on an error, then a wild pitch and a walk put runners on first and third. That brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out, and all of a sudden, the outcome seemed to be in serious jeopardy — or so everybody thought.
With her back against the wall and the WPIAL championship hanging in the balance, Preuhs turned the heat up a notch and closed the show with three consecutive strikeouts to polish off the performance of a lifetime.
“She bent a little bit, and then didn’t break,” Fisher said. “For her to step up and dig deep and go ahead and grab it, that was great. It’s something to be proud of.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
