Jun 14, 2013 4 min read

One day after the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals, two days before the state championship game, Canon-McMillan third baseman Olivia Lorusso didn’t care.

The way she saw it, the timing of a college commitment could always be questioned, and Lorusso wasn’t about to go down that road. Especially not with how sure she felt about this choice.

Lorusso gave a oral commitment Wednesday to play softball at Robert Morris, a decision that won’t kick in for another 18 months because Lorusso is a junior.

“It was in the moment, and I got to see Robert Morris twice,” Lorusso said. “It took a weight off my shoulders as well because, as you know, it’s been a really big week for all of Canon-Mac softball. The more stress I can get relieved the better, you know?”

Lorusso has been one of the primary reasons for Canon Mac’s success – a 42-7 record the past two years with a pair of WPIAL titles and the program’s first appearance in the state final.

This season she’s hitting .417 and leads the team in home runs (7), RBI (35) and doubles (nine). At third base, where she’s no doubt one of the WPIAL’s top fielders, Lorusso has 37 putouts, 43 assists and just three errors in 83 chances.

Robert Morris plays in the Northeast Conference and has won six NEC Tournament titles and six regular season championships. The Colonials have appeared in the NCAA Tournament three times, most recently in 2005.

“I like the school,” Lorusso said. “I like the atmosphere. I like how it’s close to home; I can come home whenever I’d like. I like the coach (Dr. Craig Coleman) especially.”

The Redskins are back in the PIAA championship game for the first time since winning it all in 2003. Dave Chicilitti is the coach, and Neshaminy is 23-2.

Watch pitcher Lauren Quense, a Fordham recruit. She’s 22-2 with 13 shutouts and threw a perfect game, punctuated by 15 strikeouts, to down Daniel Boone, 8-0, in the PIAA quarterfinals.

Neshaminy, the runner-up out of District 1, got here by topping North Penn, 3-2, in the semifinals. The Redskins average 7.2 runs per game.

Pitcher Alayna Astuto has always been an integral part of Canon-Mac’s success, but she’s reached another level this postseason.

In six games, all starts, Astuto has allowed a total of four runs, two of them earned. She has 36 strikeouts in 42 innings and has walked only four. Her postseason earned-run average is a measly 0.33, and she threw a perfect game to beat Hempfield, 5-0, in the WPIAL semifinals.

This hashtag originated 11 days before the Big Macs’ WPIAL Class AAAA final as a way to memorialize pitcher Kayla Kiger’s boyfriend’s (Canon-McMillan hockey player Blair Oldaker) father, Roger Oldaker, who passed away around that time.

Roger Oldaker had always been around the team, Lorusso said, and there’s no doubt who a win today would be dedicated to.

Big Macs coach Michele Moeller carries the same three shirts with her to every game and changes into a clean one after infield warmups.

Prior to the WPIAL final, she asked a fellow teacher to move her car because she had parked in the spot Moeller usually occupies on game days.

“I kept e-mailing her, apologizing and saying you really didn’t have to, but she said, ‘I understand sports,'” Moeller explained. “I know it has nothing to do with it, but I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry. I like routine. That’s what I do.”

Moeller doesn’t deny that she’s superstitious – same for her team – though she declined to divulge too many of her other idiosyncrasies.

“There are, honestly, too many to count,” Moeller said.