Another 7th-inning surge gives Waynesburg win over Charleroi
CHARLEROI – When Waynesburg opened its Section 2-AA softball season March 29 against Charleroi, the Raiders had to rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game.
Waynesburg led 9-0 early in that contest before giving up the lead.
During the early innings of the Raiders’ 7-5 win Tuesday at Charleroi, it seemed the teams were primed to reverse roles.
Charleroi was the one that jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and had runners on second and third with no outs in the first inning. Sydney Toth doubled home Adrianna Gottheld and then Toth scored on a passed ball to give the Cougars the early advantage.
However, Waynesburg pitcher Emma Ricciuti retired the next three batters to avert a bigger deficit and give Waynesburg some momentum.
“This was a tough game and they have a nice team,” Waynesburg coach Jim Armstrong said. “We kept our errors down and that was a big key.”
Charleroi coach Trey Tilghman lamented the Cougars’ lack of timely hitting.
“We haven’t hit for three games and we are struggling to put some hits together,” he said. “We scored twice in the first and had the runners on with no one out but couldn’t add to it.
“And the errors … we had way too many errors.”
Waynesburg took a 3-2 lead in the second inning behind five hits and with help from three Charleroi errors. All three of the runs were unearned, and Charleroi committed seven errors in the game and six of Waynesburg’s seven runs were unearned.
Charleroi took a 4-3 lead in the third inning. After Morgan Riley doubled to lead off the inning, she scored on a ground out by Ashley Smith. Hannah Kondratik followed with a single, and after an error she scored an unearned run on an RBI single by Jaidyn Fronzaglio.
In the sixth, Waynesburg scored a pair of runs off singles by Bailee Shimek and Rachel Eisenheimerto give the Raiders the lead again, 5-4.
Not to be outdone, Charleroi tied the score in the bottom of the inning, when Toth singled home Gottheld, who had reached on an error.
With the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, Alexis Fuqua hit a two-run single to break the 5-5 tie and give Waynesburg the win.
Waynesburg (3-3, 3-8) is tied for fourth place in the section while Charleroi (2-4, 3-4) falls to two games back of the Raiders.
Taylor Staley paced Waynesburg with three singles and Eisenheimer, Ricciuti, and Fuqua each had two singles.
Toth finished with a double and two singles for Charleroi. Kondratik had three singles and Fronzaglio contributed two singles.
Charleroi plays Thursday at Brownsville, which is tied with Waynesburg in the standings.