Char-Houston slams Montrose to reach state semifinals
A different path may have been taken, but it has led to the same place for the Chartiers-Houston softball team.
The state semifinals.
Chartiers-Houston is on the eastern side of the bracket, but continues to produce in the PIAA tournament.
The Bucs cruised to a 13-1 win in six innings over District 2 champion Montrose in the Class 2A quarterfinals at Bald Eagle Area High School in Bellefonte.
“We played pretty well and got off to a good start,” Bucs coach Tricia Alderson said. “We scored a couple runs in the top of the first. It was good to get off to a fast start. Taryne (Drilak) pitched well and we played pretty good defense behind her.”
It’s the third consecutive year the Bucs have qualified for the state semifinals. They’ll face District 1 champion Bristol on Monday at a site and time to be announced. Bristol rolled to a 26-6 win against District 11 champ Schuylkill Haven.
The Bucs put the game to bed with a four-run sixth inning.
Lauren Rush led off with a solo homer to left field. Brooklyn Hess singled home Aubree Randolph for the second run. Zaylee Fonner drew a bases loaded walk and Taryne Drilak had an RBI single.
Taryne Drilak pitched a scoreless bottom half to close out the game, which ended via the 10-run rule.
Drilak allowed one run on eight hits in six innings pitched and had 10 strikeouts to one walk.
She posted her second consecutive quality start after pitching a three-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over District 6 champion Bellwood-Antis in the first round on Monday.
Chartiers-Houston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
The first run scored on an RBI single by Seanna Riggle and a groundout by Taryne Drilak that brought in a second run.
Four more runs came in during the second inning and the Bucs were off and running. Riggle had a huge two-run triple, while Aubree Randolph and Brooklyn Hess contributed an RBI single each.
Chartiers-Houston chased Montrose starter Alayna Mott after three innings and greeted reliever Anna Evans by putting up another crooked number with three more runs in the fourth.
Fonner walked and Kiera Drilak singled to put two runners on with no one out and Lauren Rush reached on an error that scored Fonner. Kiera Drilak moved to third on the play and later scored when older sister Taryne belted a two-run single to center field. Rush also scored on the play.
“We hit (Mott) pretty well and we took advantage of a couple of their miscues,” Alderson said.
Five Chartiers-Houston players had multi-hit days.
Kiera Drilak had three hits. Rush, Riggle, Taryne Drilak and Hess had two hits apiece.
Rush scored four runs. Randolph has one hit and scored three times.