Defense and lack of hitting are costly in Bentworth loss
SOMERSET – During the middle of the sixth inning of a PIAA playoff game Thursday against Bentworth, Everett head coach Beth Bryant glanced at her lineup cards and liked what she saw.
Bentworth was leading 2-1 but the Bearcats had been holding on by their fingernails since the first inning, when they forged a 2-0 lead. Everett, the District 5 champion, had seemingly gained the momentum in the middle innings and in the sixth the Warriors were scheduled to have the 3-4-5 hitters in its lineup come to bat. If Everett could somehow push two runs across home plate in the sixth, then Bentworth would have to play catch-up ball with the bottom half of its lineup at bat in the seventh inning.
“I sure liked that,” said Bryant, who sensed her team was ready to make a comeback.
The end of the game played out just as Everett’s coach anticipated. The Warriors scored two runs in the sixth on two hits and some help from the Bentworth defense, and knocked off the Bearcats 3-2 in the Class 2A quarterfinals at Somerset High School.
The loss ends the best season in Bentworth softball history. The Bearcats won the school’s first WPIAL championship and ended the year with a 22-3 record. The loss to Everett was their only setback against a Class 2A opponent.
The Bearcats are sure to be replaying this game until next season begins, wondering what happened to the offense after the first inning and how they let the lead slip away without Everett having a hard-hit ball in the key sixth inning.
Bentworth was held to two two hits, none after the first inning when they forged the lead on a two-run single by freshman Addison McVicker.
“We hit some balls hard a couple times but just right at them,” Bentworth coach Jack Cramer said. “They made some good plays. They’re a good team. You don’t get this far without being a good team. Our defense let us down today.”
It wasn’t bad throws or missed grounders that hurt Bentworth. It was miscommunication on popups. In other words, routine plays that weren’t made.
In the sixth, Everett’s Baylee Snyder led off with a popup on the infield, in front of second base, between shortstop Makayla Gonglik and second baseman Alex Babirad – both freshmen. Gonglik and Babirad both moved in to catch the popup, then stopped allowing the ball to fall to the ground for a single.
It was the third time in the game that an Everett popup on the infield fell without a Bentworth player touching it. The first two times it didn’t bite the Bearcats as they wiggled out of jams.
This time, Bentworth couldn’t make it three in a row.
“Our defense definitely let us down today,” Cramer said. “That’s very uncharacteristic of us. They were too indecisive. We had two people going for the ball and they both stopped and looked at each other. We don’t do that. They did that today for some unknown reason. Teenage girls. They’re here one day and you don’t know what you’re getting the next.”
After Snyder ended up on first base, a wild pitch and passed ball moved her to third base. Lyla Levy delivered a one-out bloop hit to right center that tied the score at 2-2. Levy ended up on second base on the play and moved to third when Kassi Howsare bounced out to pitcher Sydney Gonglik for the inning’s second out.
Howsare then raced home on a passed ball with a 2-2 count, giving Everett (19-4) the lead.
“This is a team of scrappers,” Bryant said. “They fight. I like to say they’re like a cat with a mouse. They play a little bit and then they say it’s time to get down to business. They don’t give up.”
Bentworth’s Nora Lindley reached base on an error with one out in the top of the seventh. She moved to second base on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout by Hailey Tatar for the inning’s second out. Everett pitcher Addy Wood ended the game by getting a groundout.
Wood allowed two hits and issued four walks (one intentional). She struck out only one batter.
Bentworth took the 2-0 lead in the first after Makayla Gonglik reached on an error with two outs and Sydney Gonglik was intentionally walked. Zoie McDonald followed with a walk that loaded the bases and McVicker laced a two-run single.
The inning ended when Bentworth attempted a double steal with runners on first and third but McDonald was thrown out at home plate by second baseman Jade Colledge.
Everett made a mistake on the bases in the first inning and ended a scoring threat. With Colledge at second base with one out, Snyder bounced back to Sydney Gonglik in the circle. Gonglik turned and saw Colledge too far off second base, ran directly at her and the Bearcats perfectly executed a rundown.
Everett closed to within 2-1 in the fourth. Snyder bounced a single up the middle on the first pitch of the inning and Wood hit a 1-2 pitch to center field for a double. Snyder scored a groundout by Levy. With Wood at third and one out, Howsare put down a bunt that Sydney Gonglik fielded but the runner stayed at third. Gonglik threw to first base for an out and an ensuing strikeout ended the threat.
“I told our team that I’m disappointed we lost. The runs that we gave up, the girls should not have been on base in the first place. Those are always the runs that come back to get you,” Cramer said.
“Winning the WPIAL was a good thing, and when you get this far all the teams are good, and if you make mistakes it will cost you. That is exactly what happened today.”
Everett, which lost to Bentworth in a 2024 PIAA playoff game – played on Everett’s home field – got a measure of revenge against the Bearcats.
“We’re more mature,” Bryant said. “This team was confident and sure they could hit (Sydney Gonglik’s) pitching.”
Gonglik allowed seven hits – three did not leave the infield – and did not walk a batter. She struck out nine.