Apr 25, 2017 4 min read

MONESSEN – The West Greene softball team has beaten its Section 2-A opponents by a combined score of 110-8 so far, but Monessen gave the defending WPIAL Class A champion all it could handle Tuesday.

The top-ranked Pioneers scored an unearned run in the seventh inning to win the game, 1-0.

“I tip my hat (to Monessen) and this was a heck of a game,” said West Greene coach Billy Simms. “I knew we were in for a battle as soon as we got on the bus.”

Monessen ace pitcher Dana Vatakis, a Robert Morris commit, kept West Greene (9-0, 14-1) in check and finished with nine strikeouts.

“We took them to the limit and were right there,” Monessen coach Bo Teets said. “When you play sports long enough, you will win some like this and lose some, and I am so proud of the team. I hope we get to see them again.”

Simms heaped praise on Vatakis, who held the Pioneers to their lowest scoring output since the 2015 season.

“Every day that girl is eligible in that school and in attendance, they have a shot to win,” said Simms of Vatakis. “That’s what I think of her. She is legit. They have a chance to win the game every time she takes the circle and she is absolutely legit, and that is with a capital L.”

Vatakis, a junior, is the only Class A pitcher so far this season to keep West Greene under 11 runs as the Pioneers have scored 103 runs against the other section opponents but only seven in two games against Monessen (5-2, 8-2).

“Dana gives us a shot in any game,” Teets said. “And that is against any opponent, regardless of classification.

“She elevates her game in big games, and to do this against a team with that lineup one through nine, the defending champs, you aren’t going to find too many pitchers who can do what she did today.”

One run was all it took for West Greene to win as freshman pitcher Jade Renner limited Monessen to four hits.

Renner had only four strikeouts, but she had stellar defense behind her as West Greene committed just one error.

Monessen committed two errors in the seventh inning, and they led to the lone run of the game.

With one out, Marissa Rode reached base when Monessen’s Destiny Habeck dropped a throw to first base. Brianna Amos was then inserted into the game as a pinch-runner.

After Vatakis stuck out Mackenzie Carpenter for the second out, Linzee Stover hit a ground ball to second base. Tori Cooper attempted to tag Amos but missed her and then her throw to first base was too late to retire Stover.

“It’s just one of those things,” Teets said. “As experienced as we are, we haven’t played a lot of tight games and that might have played a little bit of a factor.”

McKenna Lampe, West Greene’s leadoff hitter who struck out twice in the game, then hit a blooper down the left-field line that fell for a single and scored Amos for the lone run.

“I don’t think that I have seen her strikeout twice in a game in two years or in travel ball,” Simms said of Lampe who finished with two hits, as did her twin sister Madison Lampe. “She was huge for us in the seventh.”

Renner gave up a one-out single to Carly Rock in the bottom of the seventh, and Rock gave way to pinch-runner Natalia Holmes.

Paige Kerestesi followed with a line drive to first base, where Lexie Mooney caught the ball and stepped on the base for an unassisted double play to end the game.