Chartiers-Houston softball takes down McGuffey

By: Steve Nagler
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 | 11:02 PM

It had been six days since Chartiers-Houston last played a softball game. But, it didn’t take the Bucs long to shake off any rust that had settled into their game as they defeated section foe McGuffey, 10-0, in five innings.

Senior Ella Brookman pitched a three-hit shutout and also singled, doubled and homered in the leadoff spot for Chartiers-Houston, scoring two runs and adding two RBIs.

Brookman took over the starting pitching role this season after pitching sporadically in 2018 and has been quite effective.

“Ella’s been working on a lot of her spins, developing her off-speed pitches and hitting locations this year,” said coach Tricia Alderson, who was a standout pitcher for the Bucs’ 1987 and ‘88 WPIAL title teams. “We’re working on everything all the time. She’s getting stronger as the year goes on, and we’re excited to see where it takes us.”

Chartiers-Houston got off to a relatively slow start offensively, largely because of the layoff.

“I was hoping we’d score more runs early, but having nearly a week-long layoff caused us to be rusty offensively early on,” Alderson said.

The Buccaneers (11-3, 7-1 Section 3-2A) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning as Karlyn Bayer scored on an infield error with two outs, which gave Chartiers-Houston a 1-0 lead.

Senior catcher Kasey Scears and Bayer both drove in runs in the bottom of the third. After Brookman doubled to lead off the inning, Kaci Alderson walked with one out. Scears then singled to center to score Brookman, and, after a single by Lauren Lober, Bayer lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score Alderson, making it 3-0.

The knockout blow came in the bottom of the fifth when Chartiers-Houston scored seven times to end the game. The two big hits in the inning came from Brookman and Lober, both blasting tape-measure home runs over the left-field wall. Lober’s homer came with a runner on and gave the Bucs a 7-0 lead at the time.

“I went into that at-bat knowing (opposing pitcher Shelby Dobrzynski) was trying to pitch us inside,” Lober said. “I wasn’t getting my hands extended in the first couple of at-bats. So, I was able to make that adjustment and hit the ball hard.”

McGuffey fell to 3-7 overall and 3-6 in section play.

“(Class) 2A is packed with really good teams,” Alderson said. “We’re not going to strike out 18 hitters each game; that’s not the game now in 2019. We know we have to play sound softball, offensively and defensively, to win the section and moving into the playoffs.”

Tags: Chartiers-Houston, McGuffey