Suhoski is fancy with bat, glove in Trinity win
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Trinity head coach Shawn Gray grins as his Hillers greet Hanna Suhoski after her two-run homer in the second inning of the PIAA 5A first-round playoff game against Solanco.
The throw to third eludes Solanco’s Kira Roark (4) and Trinity’s Madison Argo (7) slides safely with a triple that drove in the Hillers’ first two runs in the first inning of the PIAA Class 5A playoff game.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Trinity’s Madison Argo connects for a triple that drove in the first two runs for Trinity in its PIAA Class 5A first round game against Solanco at North Allegheny.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
The throw to Solanco second baseman Holly Gruse is not in time to catch Trinity's Ryleigh Hoy (12) as she safely steals second base in the first inning.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Trinity’s Hanna Suhoski savors a jog around the bases after her two-run homer in the second inning of the PIAA 5A first-round game against Solanco at North Allegheny.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Trinity's Addison Agnew stands in with a double in the sixth inning.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Trinity second baseman Kristina Bozek lines up the throw to first for the first out of the seventh inning.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Winning pitcher Taylor Dunn smiles after notching a strikeout to end the PIAA Class 5A first-round game with an 8-3 victory for Trinity over Solanco. The Hillers play Shaler on Thursday in the quarterfinals at Gateway High School.
WEXFORD – A portion of the lyrics to Hanna Suhoski’s walk-up song when the Trinity softball team plays at home says, “I’m so fancy” and “Remember my name.”
The song, entitled “Fancy,” is performed by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, and features Charli XCX. The number might not resonate with the elder generation of Hillers fans, but they can relate that Suhoski’s play during Monday’s 8-3 victory over Solanco in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs was fancy, and that they will remember her name.
The sophomore shortstop hit a two-run homer in the second inning and assisted on six groundouts as Trinity jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held off a late charge from Solanco to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal against Shaler (20-1). The site and time have yet to be determined.
“I only started playing shortstop last year,” Suhoski said. “We work on our defense all the time in practice, and I just try to be in good position. We are excited for the rematch with Shaler. We just want to keep it going.”
The Hillers (20-2) handed the Titans their only loss this season in a 5-4 eight-inning thriller in the WPIAL semifinals. Shaler defeated South Fayette, 2-1, to secure a spot in the state tournament before winning 2-1 at Central Mountain on Monday.
“We are looking forward to it,” Trinity coach Shawn Gray said. “They are a good team and it’s going to be a battle, but we’re ready for it. If we are going to win the title, we want to go through the best teams and say we are the best one out there.”
Trinity didn’t waste any time getting on the scoreboard in the first inning, as Amber Morgan singled to left on the first pitch she saw, moved to second on Addison Agnew’s bunt before scoring on Madison Argo’s triple to right field for a 1-0 lead.
Argo scored on Ryleigh Hoy’s base hit to right, and after Mirranda Reinhart was hit by a pitch and Finley Hohn reached on an error, Hoy scored on Kristina Bozek’s infield single.
One of the hardest-hit balls in the inning was an out, as Suhoski smashed a single to right, but Solanco’s AvaMarie Martin played the bounce perfectly and threw Suhoski out at first.
“I just hit that one a little too hard,” said a laughing Suhoski.
Though Suhoski being thrown out at first was not because of a lack of effort, she made up for it in the second on her blast to right center after Agnew doubled for a 5-0 advantage. The homer run was her team-leading eighth of the season.
“They said she pitched the first one inside, and that’s what I saw,” Suhoski said.
The Hillers added a run in the fourth when Morgan reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch with Suhoski batting for a 6-0 lead.
“I think when you have four freshmen and two sophomores out in the field you have to expect it,” Solanco coach Brett Miller said. “You are here for a reason, but you can’t make those mistakes. We had opportunities, but we didn’t get the key hits.”
The Golden Mules (21-4) cut the deficit to 6-3 in the fifth, as Trinity made two errors in the inning. Kira Roark and Josie Janssen scored on Sara DeFrancesco’s base hit to right before DeFrancesco came home on an error.
“We got to lock it down better,” Gray said. “If we want to continue down this path playing these great teams, we got to make sure we work on our (defense). We had two errors that cost us some key runs. Thank God we bounced back the next inning and got two runs back.”
The Hillers’ defense came up big in the sixth when Morgan threw a strike from center to Reinhart to tag Martin out at the plate on a base hit up by the middle by Holly Grube.
Trinity added two runs in the bottom of the inning for an 8-3 advantage. Morgan singled and Agnew’s double to left hit the fence before Morgan scored on a wild pitch with Suhoski batting. Agnew raced home when Suhoski reached on an error.
Taylor Dunn was the winning pitcher, yielding three runs (two earned) on nine hits over seven innings. The senior struck out seven and walked one.
“She (Dunn) controlled her pitches very well,” Gray said. “She was hitting our spots that I was asking her to pitch, and it was keeping them off-balance. Obviously, they’re going to be a hitting team, but she did a great job keeping this team down.”