Carmichaels gets rest, PIAA tournament berth

CALIFORNIA – In a game dominated by solid pitching and mostly error-free fielding, Carmichaels High School softball defeated Leechburg 3-2 Friday afternoon to win the third-place consolation game in the WPIAL Class A playoffs and qualify for the PIAA tournament.
Next, Carmichaels will face the District 9 champion in its first game of the state tournament June 5 at a time and site to be determined.
Thanks to an onslaught of rain showers in the area throughout the week, the game had to be postponed from Thursday to Friday, but Carmichaels head coach David Briggs felt like the extra day of rest for his team made the difference.
“The extra day off really helped,” Briggs said. “I think if we had played yesterday, I don’t know what would have happened. We took the extra day, kind of regrouped a little bit, and I think that really helped us today.”
Right-handed pitcher Kylie Sinn came up big for the Mikes. After not striking out a batter in a semifinal loss against Monessen, the freshman rebounded to strike out eight with no walks against Leechburg.
“Our last game was really difficult,” Sinn said. “I wasn’t hitting my spots as well.”
Of the 94 pitches Sinn threw against Leechburg, 66 were strikes, a 70 percent strike percentage.
“She got ahead more in the count today than she did the other day, and that helped,” Briggs said. “We have a pretty good defense behind her; we make the plays when we have to. That’s been kind of our recipe for success.”
The Mikes got off to a fast start. Back-to-back RBI singles from Natalie McNett and Gina Ranieri helped Carmichaels (17-6) jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
“The Monessen game, we didn’t get off to a good start, so today it was important that we do get off to a good start,” Briggs said. “It was good to get our confidence up again.”
Sinn drove in a run in her first at-bat, in the second inning, to give the Mikes a 3-0 lead that Leechburg would threaten, but never catch.
Leechburg (14-4) outhit the Mikes 9-5, but were unable to turn many of those hits into runs.
In the fifth inning, it looked like the Blue Devils had climbed their way back into the game after a single from Aubry Skeel and a double from Keira Jones leading to RBIs from Kristen Knapp and Kasey Klapheke to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“I think they started figuring out the pitches I was throwing, and the spin on my pitches,” Sinn said. “So I just worked my spaces more, and I knew I had my team behind me to field the ball.”
Carmichaels tried to extend its lead in the sixth inning after going almost three innings without a hit.
“I don’t know if we relaxed a little bit,” Briggs said. “Seemed like we got a little anxious at the plate toward the end. We were swinging at some marginal strikes when we were ahead in the count. So, we lost a little bit of our discipline there.”
A walk, a single by Shelbee McCann and a couple of stolen bases put runners on second and third for the Mikes, but a strikeout by Blue Devils right-hander Morgan Pierce ended the inning.
“She’s (Pierce) a good pitcher,” Briggs said. “She’s crafty, and mixes her speeds really, really well.”
In the seventh, the Mikes needed three outs to secure the victory, and Sinn delivered.
“I just relaxed, took a deep breath, and struck them out and got the inning over with,” she said.
With the first game of the PIAA state tournament against the District 9 champion a full nine days away, Briggs wants to keep his team sharp in the interim.
“We have some things in the works for that for next week, just to stay sharp because it is a long layoff,” he said.