Apr 20, 2026 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

After a couple of weeks of warm weather, a blustery cold snap returned to the region on Monday afternoon with temperatures in the 40s, but that didn’t seem to bother Bentworth ace pitcher Sydney Gonglik.

Gonglik, an LSU commit, had no problem bringing the heat, striking out 16 over seven innings.

Bentworth needed all of them to slip past Wash High, 2-1, and remain unbeaten in a Class 2A Section 4 softball game Monday afternoon at South Strabane Community Park.

“Syd pitched a nice game,” Bentworth coach Jack Cramer said. “She missed some pitches high, but the mound was soft and it was cold, but we’re not making any excuses. She did a great job.”

The Bearcats improved to 6-0 in section play and 11-0 overall. Wash High, in the midst of a resurgent year, is 5-3 in the section and 9-4 overall.

Gonglik retired the last eight batters she faced. Six were by strikeout, including all three in the seventh, and the other two were groundouts back to her.

It was the first time most of the Wash High players had faced Gonglik in a game, because she did not pitch in the regular season last year because of an injury.

“We were familiar with what she’s been doing all year and really she’s been pitching fantastic,” Prexies coach Mike McCort said. “She did what we expected her to do, throw a lot of rise balls and fastballs to get us to chase. We tried to make some adjustments and got the bat on the ball a few times, but not as much as we’d like.

“She’s hard enough to barrel up and if you don’t barrel it up in the cold weather, your hands are stinging with any pitcher let alone one that throws as hard as she does. It was a tough day.”

Wash High’s freshman pitcher Chessa Henderson didn’t have the strikeout numbers of Gonglik, but matched her putting up zeroes on the scoreboard.

That was until the top of the sixth.

With the score tied 1-1, Mikayla Gonglik led off the inning with a single to left field. Then, Nora Lindley stepped to the plate and promptly smashed a double into the left-center gap, which scored Mikayla from first, which proved to be the winning run.

“I had two strikes on me, so I was just thinking about being aggressive,” Lindley said. “It felt good. It was tough playing today, because I hate being cold.”

Lindley was one of only two Bearcats to reach base multiple times. The other was nine-hole hitter Lauren Lustik, who singled twice.

Henderson scattered eight hits, struck out four and only walked one.

“Chessa pitched a heck of a game,” McCort said. “She threw a lot strikes and didn’t get behind in too many counts. She gave them hard pitches to hit. She kind of picked around the edges of the zone and made it tough on them. She did a great job.”

Wash High got on the board first in the bottom of the second when Faith Partozoti laced a double to left-center which scored Kali Hagan from first. Hagan walked in the previous at-bat.

After the run scored, Gonglik allowed two more baserunners the rest of the game, a single by Mayaja Lee in the third and a single by Jakirah Howell in the fifth.

Bentworth tied the game in the top of the third when Sydney Gonglik a single to right that scored Lustik from second.

The Bearcats had a chance to score a couple more runs, but made two outs at home plate.

Addison McVicker was cut down trying to score by a relay throw home by shortstop Kieran Wormsley in the third inning. Lindley tried to score on a wild pitch in the sixth, but was tagged out by Hagan.

Bentworth has qualified for the playoffs. Wash High has some more work to do but is on track to make it. The two teams meet again next Tuesday at Bentworth.

After shivering through this one, they’ll hope for warmer weather in the rematch.

“The cold affected us some and I’m sure it affected them too,” Cramer said. “Hopefully when we play next week it’ll be 80 degrees and tongues hanging out from the heat.”

Bentworth 001 001 0 – 2 8 0

Washington 010 000 0 – 1 3 0

W-Gonglik (1 walk, 16 strikeouts). L-Henderson (1 walk, 4 strikeouts). 2B-Bentworth, Lindley. Washington, Partozoti.