Hempfield sophomore pitcher Riley Miller stands tall in PIAA finals defeat

By: Paul Schofield
Thursday, June 15, 2023 | 9:45 PM

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UNIVERSITY PARK — She’s cool. She’s calm. She’s collected.

Hempfield sophomore pitcher Riley Miller has been in a lot of tough situations, going against a lot of outstanding pitchers during her two-year career, and has stood tall.

Even though Hempfield lost to North Penn, 1-0, in the PIAA Class 6A championship game Thursday at Penn State’s Beard Field, Miller kept her team in a position to pull out a win.

She went against arguably two of the top pitchers in the state — North Penn’s Julia Shearer and Seneca Valley’s Lexie Hames — and held her own.

“Everybody makes the narratives about the other pitchers, but at some point people are going to realize how good Riley is,” Hempfield coach Tina Madison said. “I’ve realized that. Riley is a sophomore, and we’re playing big time games with her. We are right there.”

Miller allowed a run in the fourth inning, and her teammates did another great job playing defense to keep the game close.

North Penn loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning, and Miller induced a groundout and popout to end the threat. In the sixth inning, right fielder Maggie Howard gunned down a runner at the plate.

“I trust my defense,” Miller said. “They do a great job behind me. I’ve gone against some very good pitchers. I don’t like to compare Julia and Lexie. I try to learn something every game when I pitch.

“We just practice every day and come in confident. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way.”

After Miller allowed the run, Hempfield’s offense threatened in the top of the fifth inning as Maggie Howard doubled, pushing Mia Bandieramnte to third. But Shearer, the two-time Gatorade Softball Player of the Year, got Claire Mitchell and Lauren Howard to end the threat.

“We had so many opportunities and didn’t have the clutch hits,” Madison said. “All these games to this point we got a clutch hit, but today we didn’t.”

Miller allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out three. Shearer struck out nine and allowed four hits.

And while Shearer is off to Maryland to pitch and play outfield, Miller is hoping to lead Hempfield back to the championship game.

“Riley is going to continue to mature,” Madison said. “You saw the bases loaded with one out, and a girl rocks the ball up the middle. She knocks the ball down and stays cool, calm and composed and goes right home with the ball.

“Riley is always calm. … I put her in big situations, over and over again since she’s been a freshman. She just continues to grow.”

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.