May 23, 2022 3 min read

SEWICKLEY – Throughout the season, Tricia Alderson was worried about the section’s opposing pitchers.

The head coach of Chartiers-Houston’s softball team wasn’t concerned the pitchers in Section 1 of Class 2A were too good. She was concerned they weren’t good enough.

Even though Chartiers-Houston seemed to have an offensive juggernaut, scoring in double figures in 13 of the Bucs’ 20 games this season, Alderson was concerned how the team would respond against one of the top pitchers in the WPIAL.

She found out Monday, when the Bucs bats fell silent against Autumn Boyd in a 4-1 loss to Laurel. The 6-1 fireballer struck out 15 and allowed only one run against a team that had scored 29, 20, 19 and 18 runs in games this season.

The loss ended the Bucs’ season with a 16-4 record. The Spartans advance to the semifinals of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs against Neshannock, a 10-0 winner over Charleroi.

“We might have had a couple pitchers in the section close to the caliber of (Boyd),” said Alderson. “But it’s tough. We prepared as well as we could for this game. She’s tough. By the time we made adjustments, it was too late. The game was over.”

Boyd, who has an array of pitches including a knuckleball, struck out the first six Chartiers-Houston batters. Worse, most of the Bucs” first six batters could not even make contact.

Laurel, meanwhile, touched up Chartiers-Houston starter Meadow Ferri for a run in the first on an RBI double by Grace Zeppelin, who reached base on three of her four at-bats.

Addy Deal launched a blast over the left-field fence for a solo home run to make it 2-0 in the third. And Laurel made 3-0 in the inning on a single by Eva Kuth that scored Abigale Miles.

The bottom of the inning was when Alderson changed tactics at the plate. The Bucs began bunting and it nearly worked. Lexie Broodncik worked a walk and Kaileigh Walton got her to second on a groundout. But Emily Swarrow popped up a bunt to the catcher, Alexis Brua. Bella Hess beat out a bunt and Ella Richey’s bunted out to the catcher in foul territory.

“With a hard thrower like her, maybe their infielders don’t see a lot of balls put in play,” said Alderson. “We were trying to make them make a play and it just didn’t work out.”

Chartiers-Houston did not get a runner past second base until it scored in the seventh. A two-out single put Ferri on first. She moved to second on a pickoff error on Brua. Ferri scored when shortstop Bekah Valenti’s throw skipped by first baseman Deal.

“Boyd can sling it,” said Laurel head coach Frank Duddy. “She mixes her pitches up and does a good job out there. We never put a gun on her but I would guess her fastball is mid-60s.”

Duddy said the six straight strikeouts had a mental effect on the Bucs.

“You start out by striking out the side twice and you have them thinking, ‘Oh no. Here we go. We have our work cut out for us,” Duddy said. “It was huge for us. I loved it, loved it.”