Bethel Park softball looks to improve on .500 season

By: Ray Fisher
Saturday, March 22, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Surely, the Bethel Park softball team anticipates breaking the mold of last year’s performance.

The Black Hawks proved to be the definition of a .500 team in 2024. They were 5-5 in section play and finished 10-10 overall.

Bethel Park lost to Penn-Trafford, 3-2, in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs.

Coach Nicole Davis welcomed four key players back to this year’s club — shortstop Audrey Campbell, third baseman Anastasia “Sia” Spano, outfielder Julia Bitkowski and pitcher Taylor Striegel. Campbell and Striegel are seniors; Spano, an all-section selection a year ago, and Bitkowski are juniors.

Campbell and Striegel are the team’s co-captains.

“We expect to be competitive in our section and in 5A,” Davis said. “Our team is full of extremely hard workers that are focused and never yielding as they strive for success. We have an incredibly solid defense that will make plays which would be base hits with any other team.”

Other top players include seniors Kamiya Martin (OF), Nina DePasquale (C) and Allison Jones (C); juniors Cara Cummings (P), Courtney Roberts (OF) and Madison Timms (1B); plus freshmen Emma Farrell (2B) and Presley Thimons (DP).

There are 23 players in the Bethel Park softball program consisting of five seniors, five juniors, six sophomores and seven freshmen.

“All of these girls have potential to be exceptional,” Davis said.

Along with Farrell and Thimons, the Black Hawks’ leading freshman prospects include Brenna Booth, Brooke Priddy, Ellery Stipp, Marisa Whitmer and Raegan Exler.

The sophomore class is represented by Calleigh Och, Carly Conroy, Chaz Burner, Joni Burner, Lucy Dzanaj and Nora Cooley.

Bethel Park took fourth place in Section 4-5A behind co-champions Connellsville (7-3) and Trinity (7-3) and third-place finisher Thomas Jefferson (6-4). Upper St. Clair (4-6) and Peters Township (1-9) rounded out the section standings.

TJ captured the PIAA championship after taking second in the WPIAL playoffs.

Bethel Park suffered major graduation losses from last year’s team, consisting of pitchers Makenzie Wade and Alayna Owen; catcher Lupe McElvenny; infielders Julia Miller, Rebecca Gillenberger and Nicolette Antonucci; and outfielders Belina Bova, Savannah Knauff and Madison Kristobak.

Wade and Owen shared pitching duties last season; Wade was the team’s leading hitter.

And while Davis is in her second season as the Black Hawks coach, this is her eighth year as a field boss.

Davis started out as an assistant at Baldwin under Sam Kuharic for five seasons from 2010-11 to 2014-15, served as head coach at Peters Township for four years (2016-12 to 2019-20), was head coach at Sto-Rox for one year (2019-20) where she restarted the school’s softball program, then took over as head coach at Keystone Oaks for one year (2022-23).

Davis is assisted by Shannon Wyzkoski and Cameron Meier.

Tags: Bethel Park