Jun 2, 2025 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

RURAL VALLEY – For a moment it looked like West Shamokin gave Bentworth a gift.

Then the Bearcats returned it.

With a runner on third and one out, Avery Elkin hit a fly ball that was caught in foul territory by Bentworth’s Willow Eckels. It should’ve easily scored a run, but the runner at third, Maya McIlwain, was halfway between home and third and didn’t get back to the base in time to tag up.

Then with two runners on, Sydney Gonglik got Malena Stewart to pop up behind second base, but miscommunication in the field led it to drop and the flood gates opened.

West Shamokin scored two runs on that play and five in the inning, all with two outs, and it turned out to be the separator in an 11-5 victory in the first round of the PIAA Class 2A softball playoffs Monday.

Bentworth (10-12) made five errors on the day. Add in the mental error of not communicating properly on the popup and it was too much to overcome.

“We had errors at the most inopportune times and that killed us,” Bentworth coach Jack Cramer said. “We should’ve been out of that inning that they scored those (five) runs. That’s been our season in a nutshell. All year long we’ve been battling each other and committing errors that hurt us as a team.”

West Shamokin (20-4) won their first state playoff game in school history.

“It’s big for us,” West Shamokin coach Gary Stewart said. “One of our goals was to get here and win it. We took the first step and that’s pretty exciting.

Stewart’s popup ended up being a two-run single. Leah Mondi followed with an RBI single and Madison Keirn smacked a two-run double. Keirn scored on a dropped fly ball in right and a 3-3 game became an 8-3 West Shamokin lead.

“That (fourth) inning broke it open for us,” Stewart said. “When that inning was over I knew we had it.”

Prior to West Shamokin’s big inning, Gonglik hit a bases clearing triple off the left field fence that tied the game at 3-3 and erased an early deficit.

That was the only big hit for the Bearcats, who left seven runners on base, including four in the first three innings.

Gonglik, who didn’t pitch most of the season due to a shoulder injury, had six strikeouts and only three of the 10 runs she gave up were earned. She was relieved by Eckels in the sixth. The only run Eckels gave up was unearned as well.

“If Syd is healthy all year, we aren’t in the position we are in,” Cramer said. “She threw 120 pitches today and that’s the most she’s had since last year. This is no fault of hers.”

West Shamokin added a run in the fifth and two more in the seventh, both of which were unearned.

The Wolves had some pesky at-bats against Gonglik including one in the fourth where Cameron Vandervort fouled off five pitches in an 11-pitch at-bat and drew a walk.

The Wolves were well aware of the talent of Gonglik, who is receiving interest from major college programs, and Stewart was proud of the way his team battled in the box.

“We worked hard in practice Friday and Sunday hitting and figuring out a plan on how we were going to attack,” Stewart said. “And we went out and did it.”

Elkin struck out to lead off the bottom of the first, but the ball skipped past Bentworth catcher Kayla O’Dell. Elkin reached first and that turned out to be costly for the Bearcats.

Vandervort laid down a sacrifice bunt to get Elkin to second and Malena Stewart grounded a single up the middle that scored Elkin to make it 1-0.

Mondi and Keirn had an RBI single each in the second, an inning aided by a Bentworth throwing error.

“I told them that after the game you can’t dictate how a game is going to go, but if you don’t play a clean game you’re not going to come out on top every often, especially against a good team,” Cramer said. “(West Shamokin) is a good team. They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t.”

Monday’s game provided some tough lessons, but with Gonglik, a sophomore, returning, the future still looks bright for Bentworth.

“This is the first time we’ve made states back-to-back years,” Cramer said. “We’re not a big program like Neshannock or Chartiers-Houston that gets there all the time. This is new for us. I told the girls that we’ll be back and come back even stronger.”