Fox Chapel softball making in-season strides

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Saturday, April 26, 2025 | 11:01 AM


The hardest lesson for any team to learn is how to take what they do in practice and apply it to game situations. Fox Chapel softball coach Larry Troutman saw his team learn the hard way plenty of times once Section 1-5A play started this season.

The Foxes used those growing pains to eventually catch their footing in a competitive section. While Fox Chapel lost its last section game 6-2 to North Hills on April 23, the Foxes entered that contest having won five of their previous six section games to shoot to fourth place.

Fox Chapel (9-4,5-4) lost its first three section games by a combined score of 41-9. Many of those games, Troutman said, came down to compounding errors.

“It’s rough because it’s the stuff we practice all winter and all spring,” Troutman said. “Then the game comes and you go out and do something you know you shouldn’t do and it leads to runs. Sometimes, it’s because they are thinking too much and not just playing. Other times, they aren’t mentally locked in.”

Fox Chapel was without three starters — shortstop Maria Stiger, first baseman Heidi Stiger and right fielder Summer Burkhart — during its most recent loss to North Hills. Troutman has been encouraged by how the Foxes have played teams the second time around.

Fox Chapel lost its first meeting to Plum, 17-7. The Foxes won the rematch, 5-1.

“It’s definitely a tougher section than it has been in the past,” Troutman said. “You add in New Castle, they have two Division I recruits, and Mars, it’s a lot tougher. Mars gave us fits earlier this year.”

Fox Chapel’s 7-6 win over New Castle was important for the Foxes’ positioning in the playoff chase. Jillian Haigh leads the team with a .568 batting average and has driven in 22 runs.

Haigh also has been counted on to do a majority of the pitching for Fox Chapel.

Ella Eisner and Bri Hnatow are also both hitting .378 for the Foxes.

Troutman believes if Fox Chapel can be solid on defense, the Foxes are capable of stacking up more wins.

“I think we struggled because we were making too many errors,” Troutman said. “We’ve minimized our mistakes. We’ve played better. When we played Plum the second time, we only made one error. The first time we played them, we had way more than one.”

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