Redemption: Peters Twp. fends off Canon-McMillan
McMURRAY – It has been what Nicole Davis and the on-again, off-again Peters Township High School softball team has been searching – a performance, possibly a turning point, the Indians can circle on their schedule and say to themselves, ‘This is where it all changed.’
Davis believes her team might have that for the first time all season.
Combining situational hitting with clutch pitching, Peters Township fended off multiple attempts from neighboring rival Canon-McMillan to defeat the Big Macs 7-5, on a dreary Friday afternoon, tightening the Class 6A Section 1 standings in the process.
“This is the team I’ve known we had,” Davis said. “This is the way I know we can play every single game. It’s no surprise we can do that. It just finally all came together today.”
After taking a lead in the bottom of the second inning, Peters Township (4-3, 6-5) strung together one timely hit after another to keep pace with the offensively talented Big Macs. Pitcher Kate Hondru fluidly danced in and out of danger in the circle, standing nine runners on base to keep the Indians ahead for their third win in four games.
“Every win is a big win. Every game is a big game,” Davis said. “You can never count Canon-Mac out. They can always hit the ball. The girls know to never let their guard down because opponents, especially in our section, will take advantage of it.”
The win moves the rivals into a two-way tie for fourth place in the standings, each at 4-3 in the section. Canon-McMillan, loser of three straight, is 5-4 overall.
“This has been a horrible week,” said C-M coach Michelle Moeller.
The Big Macs started the week with a chance to be in the section lead. They lost 18-17 to Bethel Park in a nine-inning game Monday that featured 41 combined hits and 11 home runs. On Wednesday, C-M lost 11-7 to Baldwin.
Now, despite scoring more than 10 runs per game, Canon-McMillan is fighting for its playoff life as the schedule turns over next week to start the second half of the section season.
“We are giving up too many runs in the circle. That was the story of today. We aren’t getting the job done there. It’s a lot to ask our hitters to score 19 runs, or 12 runs or eight runs every game. I don’t think they are dropping the ball on their ability to hit. They are stroking the ball pretty well in most cases. We just can’t keep giving up the amount of runs we’ve been giving up. That’s it. We cannot compete like that.”
The struggle for every Big Macs pitcher was against the middle of Peters Township’s lineup. The Nos. 3 through 7 hitters for the Indians combined for nine hits, two home runs and scored six of their seven runs.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
After Canon-McMillan cut the deficit to one run, 3-2, on a Sydney Senay book-rule double in the top of the third, Peters Township’s Maddie Morgan hit a towering leadoff homer to left field to spark a three-run bottom half.
The Big Macs again cut the deficit to one in the fifth but that was answered by a line-drive solo homer that didn’t need more than three seconds to clear the fence by Indians cleanup hitter Alex Bondi, extending the lead to 7-5.
“We had some mental things early in the season but I think we’ve found our grove (at the plate),” Davis said. “The games we’ve played previously have been blowouts or we’ve had too many errors. It wasn’t the team I knew we could be.”
Hondru stranded the game-tying run at first base when she induced a fly ball to center fielder Amber Wilkes to end the game. Wilkes was active patrolling the outfield, recording eight putouts to help Hondru finish a complete-game victory.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
“It was just about staying strong mentally,” Hondru said of limiting Canon-McMillan. “I have a great defense behind me that I trust to the fullest. This was a huge win. We obviously haven’t had the best start but know we are better than we’ve played. Today was redemption. We are ready to keep this going.”
Morgan, Bondi and Hondru all went 2-for-4. Yaya Hutnik added a pair of singles.
“We’ve had some rough losses but knew we weren’t out of the running for anything,” Davis said. “We needed to make a move now. We couldn’t let more of those losses happen. We knew coming in this was a big one.”