Penn-Trafford earns trip to Penn State with win over West Allegheny

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Monday, June 9, 2025 | 7:59 PM


Penn-Trafford softball coach Denny Little was under the weather Sunday night and was not sure he would be able to make his team’s PIAA Class 5A semifinal against West Allegheny on Monday.

The perfect prescription was an all-around solid effort by the Warriors that left the Indians feeling ill.

Penn-Trafford pounded 12 hits and took advantage of some uncharacteristic miscues by West Allegheny to win 8-2 at the Pleasant Valley turf field in Peters Township.

The victory propels the Warriors into the PIAA Class 5A championship game for the second time in six years.

“It’s pretty awesome. I’m so happy for these kids,” Little said. “It’s been their goal the whole time. We couldn’t get the WPIAL, so we reset our goal. They’ve been working nine years together, so these seniors wanted to go to Penn State.”

A happy bunch of Penn-Trafford players are now headed to Happy Valley on Friday.

The Warriors struck first in the bottom of the first inning when senior Kylie Anthony continued her torrid state playoff run with a single. She went to third base on two errant throws, first by the Indians catcher and then their right fielder.

She scored on an RBI groundout by senior Cam Ponko.

Anthony finished the game 3 for 4 with three runs scored. In three state playoff wins, she is a combined 8 for 10 with a home run and four RBIs thanks to a little change she made before the PIAA postseason.

“I’ve been sighting, which is like a fake bunt, then you pull back and swing,” Anthony said. “(Coach Little’s) daughter came in and showed us how to do it, and I’ve stuck to it since the start of states. It works for a few girls that have been doing it.”

Little has not been surprised by the hot streak at the plate by one of the team leaders.

“She started since her freshman year, and she’s been steady-eddy the whole time,” Little said. “With the adjustments she made last week, she’s been killing the ball.”

Penn-Trafford took control in the bottom of the third inning when Mackenzie Cox, Rilie Moors, Anthony, Ponko and Bella Rubbe hit consecutive singles to make the score 3-0.

Lorryn Sepe added a two-run single, and Rubbe scored on a wild pitch to finish off a five-run inning that put the Warriors up 6-0.

West Allegheny cracked the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning when Kate Cook drove home Savanna Benish with a single.

Following a 30-minute weather delay, Penn-Trafford regained its six-run lead on a single by Giuliana Youngo that scored Anthony.

Both teams added runs in the fifth inning, the Indians on a Savanna Benish solo home run to center field and the Warriors on a triple by Annabell Carvajal, who scored on a West A throwing error, its fifth defensive miscue of the game.

“(Monday) just wasn’t our day,” West Allegheny coach Mindi McFate said. “Offensively, we put the ball in play, but we hit it right at them. Defensively, we were just a little bit of a mess. We threw the ball around, which is uncharacteristic of us. Stuff that we’ve done all year, we just did not do well.”

On the flip side, Penn-Trafford was perfect on defense, which it had to be since sophomore pitcher Allyson Paulone only had two strikeouts.

“Luckily with this group, (our defense) has been on a lot,” Little said. “Kylie (Anthony) has been a shutdown shortstop all year, Cam (Ponko) at third base, our outfielders have been working together all year, just a lot of good plays.”

Paulone allowed two runs on seven hits and did not walk a batter.

“Steady,” Little said of his pitcher’s final four performance. “She’s not overpowering, but she can hit her spots. She is a gritty pitcher.”

West Allegheny, which reached the semifinals in both the district and state playoffs, finished 16-7.

Penn-Trafford improves to 23-3 and will face the No. 3 team out of District 3, Greencastle-Antrim, at 4 p.m. Friday at Nittany Lion Softball Park.

“We’re so close, and we trust each other,” Anthony said. “I think it shows a lot. We just go out and do our job. We watched the 2019 (PIAA championship game) at one of our practices, and that even motivated us more. We can do this, and I think we will.”

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