May 31, 2018 4 min read

GREENSBURG – As the beginning of the song “Renegade” by the rock band Styx played over the loudspeakers as Monessen pitcher Dana Vatakis warmed up for the seventh inning Thursday, it was drowned out by West Greene’s Madison Renner motivating the Pioneers for one final push.

With West Greene trailing by a pair of runs and down to its final three outs, Renner knew how difficult a comeback was going to be against Vatakis, whom she has known since playing travel softball at 10 years old.

“If we would have lost, there is no other team that would have deserved it more (than Monessen),” Renner said. “I knew it was going to be a tough game because they have a chance to win every game with her in the circle.”

Renner had the bat taken out of her hands in the seventh when she was issued an intentional walk – called for by Monessen coach Bo Teets – and thought about the song blaring out of the Pioneers’ bus speakers upon arriving at Seton Hill University: “Don’t Stop Believing.” It’s a mantra the Pioneers put to use last year when they put together an epic comeback to win the state championship.

“We were down 7-0 in the state title game and came back to win,” Renner recalled. “If we can do that, we can do this. We are never out of a game.”

West Greene scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh, after Monessen had taken a two-run lead in the top half of the inning, to defeat the Greyhounds 5-4 in the WPIAL Class A championship game Thursday afternoon. It was the third consecutive WPIAL title for West Greene.

And, of course, it was Renner who crossed the plate on a game-tying double by her sister, Jade.

“I was worried about getting two (runs) before getting three,” said West Greene coach Bill Simms. “When they walked Madison, it put us in a tough spot as a coaching staff because we have some players who have better speed but don’t have the experience.”

It was the second two-run deficit West Greene erased against the Greyhounds. It also marked the first time the Pioneers had trailed in a WPIAL playoff game since the first inning of the 2016 championship against Chartiers-Houston.

Renner, who scored the tying runs in both the fifth and seventh innings, might not have had a bigger impact than after the top of the first inning when West Greene committed two uncharacteristic errors, leading to two unearned runs.

“Once (Monessen) put two runs on the board most teams would go dead. I wasn’t going to let that happen,” she said.

Renner sprinted into the dugout at the end of the inning and made sure to remind her teammates that six-and-a-half innings still needed to be played.

“It helped a lot,” said Kaitlyn Rizor. “She’s crazy but picked us up. She is our role model. Everybody on this team looks up to her. We look to her for a sense of direction.”

Shy as a child, Renner morphed into the recognizable, vocal leader for a team that didn’t have a voice.

“When I came in as a freshman, nobody took charge. Nobody was the voice of the team,” she said. “I wanted to be that voice, the one person that doesn’t let anybody get down. I think I’ve done a decent job at it.”

Renner doubled to right centerfield to begin the bottom of the fourth inning in her lone official at-bat of the day. She walked three times and scored three runs.

In 23 games for the Pioneers this season, Renner is batting a team-high .559 with 33 hits, 35 RBI, seven doubles and six home runs.

“What an ultimate leader,” Simms said. “In some ways, people think she’s taking the fall from grace after pitching in the state finals her sophomore year to playing second fiddle at shortstop. She has played shortstop with nothing but love for her sister (Jade is the starting pitcher). She has been the consummate team player. We are gong to miss her bat in the lineup at some point, but we hope it will be after four games from now.”