McGuffey unable to confuse Burrell in first-round defeat
McGuffey celebrates after Moriah McGuier hit a sixth-inning home run against Burrell Wednesday.
McGuffey’s Rachel Kleinhans slides into second base ahead of the tag of Burrell shortstop Brittany Wolford in the sixth inning at California University’s Lilley Field Wednesday.
CALIFORNIA – McGuffey softball coach Jason Kern glanced down at his wrist band with a look of amazement. Listed next to the Highlanders’ signals are the pitches thrown by junior Moriah McGuier.
No matter which of McGuier’s six pitches were thrown, Burrell found a way to make contact. That’s all the Buccaneers needed against McGuffey’s struggling defense.
Burrell scattered 14 hits, including four by lead-off hitter Alaina York, and McGuffey committed as many errors as hits during a 13-3 loss to the Bucs in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs at Lilley Field.
“Give Burrell all the credit in the world. My gosh, can they hit,” Kern said. “Moriah has six different pitches and it didn’t matter. We confused them on a couple, but they made adjustments and they hit. They did a fantastic job. You see the difference when you hit and don’t hit.”
Burrell (11-3) advanced to the quarterfinals, where it will face top-seeded Deer Lakes (18-1) Tuesday at a site and time to be determined. McGuffey’s season ends with a 14-3 overall record.
The Bucs have scored at least 10 runs in nine of their last 10 games. They got plenty of help from the Highlanders’ defense Wednesday afternoon. McGuffey committed five errors and had just five hits.
After an RBI double by Abigail Nitowski gave Burrell a 1-0 lead in the first inning, it added three runs in the second. McGuier started the inning with back-to-back strikeouts, but she hit the next batter and York, who went 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBI, hit a single.
Kasey Wolford followed with a two-run double for a 4-0 lead. The Bucs added five more runs in the fifth inning, including a two-run double by York and a two-run single by Brittney Wolford.
“I didn’t know much about (McGuffey),” Burrell head coach Brian Eshbaugh said. “I didn’t know much about their section. I knew that no matter what, if we were able to hit like we have been in the eight or nine games since we started our roll, we’d be definitely be in the ball game. I didn’t expect to sort of walk on them like we did.”
McGuffey was held hitless until the fourth inning, but it did not give up despite a nine-run deficit. Junior Carae Wagner, who is playing with two injured shoulders, and McGuier started the bottom of the fifth inning with back-to-back home runs. Sammie Weiss, McGuffey’s only senior, drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly to center field.
After seeing Kasey Wolford allow three runs, Eshbaugh did not hesitate to make a change to Brittany Dunn. The move paid off as Dunn struck out six of the final seven batters of the game to clinch the victory.
“We have excelled all season against pitchers who throw hard,” Kern said. “We struggle against girls who throw slower and more off-speed pitches. That’s what happened. She threw more and we struggled. That’s just a product of them making plays.”
The Bucs added three runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, but the 10-run loss did not alter the bright future for McGuffey. After Weiss unceremoniously left the game in the sixth inning, the Highlanders had two freshmen and two sophomores on the field. Despite the young roster, McGuffey was three runs away from at least sharing the section title with Carmichaels and its two regular-season losses were by a total of five runs.
“We are a very young team. This is a building block and a learning experience,” Kern said. “I think we picked the worst possible time to play our worst game of the year. Any time you commit the same amount of errors as you have hits, it’s not a good day at the office.”