Apr 6, 2016 4 min read

CLAYSVILLE – Throughout the course of the WPIAL girls softball game Wednesday between Waynesburg and McGuffey, there were a few undeniable facts:

• Hitters in Section 2-AA, and anybody who likes to watch home runs, will love that McGuffey changed its home field to McGuffey Community Park. Pitchers, not so much.

• The three freshmen in McGuffey’s infield are not your typical freshmen.

• Waynesburg’s veteran head coach Jim Armstrong might have done too good of a job as Moriah McGuier’s pitching coach because the student did a terrific job against the teacher’s potent lineup.

• Waynesburg will never play a 1-0 game. The Raiders can hit, but their defense is currently a work in progress.

When the game was over, McGuffey was still undefeated, winning a 9-5 slugfest that featured six home runs.

Brin Hunter, McGuffey’s freshman shortstop, hit two home runs, Megan Shultz had a two-run single, Balicia Hambleton smacked a solo homer and McGuier pitched three-hit ball over the final six innings as the Highlanders improved to 3-0 in the section and 5-0 overall.

“I like what I’m seeing,” said McGuffey head coach Jason Kern. “What we tell our players is to be like the man on the horse – don’t get too high, don’t get too low, stay on an even keel. You’re never as good as you think you are and never as bad as you think you are.”

Two of McGuffey’s wins came March 26 in Vero Beach, Fla., including a 10-1 victory over The Master’s Academy, a Florida powerhouse that played 17 games before meeting the Highlanders.

“We weren’t intimidated,” Kern said. “After that game, we knew how good we can be.”

McGuffey had to be good against Waynesburg (1-1, 1-4). The Raiders didn’t waste any time proving they came prepared to hit and win.

Rachel Elsenheimer led off the game with a home run over the left-field fence, which is only 180 feet down the line. Two batters later, Tara Staley gave Waynesburg a 2-0 lead with a solo homer to center field.

The rocky start didn’t diminish the confidence of the Highlanders, especially McGuier, who retired 13 of the next 14 Waynesburg hitters. The lone baserunner reached on an error.

“It takes her a while to get warmed up,” Kern explained. “We’ve tried to adjust her pregame routine and have her start warming up sooner. She missed some spots early. Her go-to pitch, which is her screwball, she only threw it twice and both of them left the park. It wasn’t moving like it normally does.”

McGuffey didn’t trail very long as Hunter, the Highlanders’ leadoff hitter, homered in each of the first two innings. Hunter led off the bottom of the first with a home run to center field off Waynesburg pitcher Emma Ricciuti and capped a three-run second inning with a two-run shot to right centerfield.

Hunter entered the game leading the Highlanders in extra-base hits and had a batting average of better than .600.

All four of McGuffey’s runs in the second inning were unearned because of an error. The Raiders committed two errors in the game and were unable to make several other defensive plays that resulted in hits.

“You can’t give away four runs in an inning and win games,” Armstrong said. “We’re making errors that we shouldn’t be making. We lost some games (in South Carolina) and they all started the same way. We gave away five runs in a game against a team from Kentucky and lost 9-6. I still have confidence that we’ll get it cleaned up.”

A run-scoring single by freshman second baseman Ella Brookman in the third inning and Shultz’s two-run single in the fourth gave McGuffey an 8-2 lead. After Elsenheimer’s RBI-double – Waynesburg’s first hit since the first inning – pulled the Raiders to within 8-3, Hambleton led off the bottom of the fifth with a homer to center field.

Waynesburg’s Anissa Hopkins capped the scoring with a two-run homer to center in the sixth.

McGuier, despite giving up the three homers, allowed only five hits and struck out seven.

“She’s the best pitcher we’ll face,” said Armstrong, the former McGuffey coach who has been McGuier’s personal pitching coach.

McGuier’s most important statistic was that she didn’t issue a walk.

“We know what can happen on this field,” Kern said. “It almost happened against Beth-Center and we needed a walk-off homer from (McGuier). But with the nine girls we put out there, I’ll take them against anyone in our section.

“Moriah knows you have to keep the ball down in the strike zone when we play here, but our hitters can take advantage of this place, too.”