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NEWPORT TWP. — As the losses piled up in late April, Wyoming Area softball coach John McNeil kept mentioning the need for his team to mature.
The Warriors, perhaps, came of age Tuesday as they fought through a gut-wrenching, emotional 10 innings to knock off top-seeded Nanticoke 6-5 in a District 2 Class 4A semifinal game.
Fourth-seeded Wyoming Area (9-6) will play third-seeded Tunkhannock (11-4) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Wilkes University for the district title. Wyoming Area will be going for its first district championship since 1981. Tunkhannock last won a district title in 1999. Both teams will advance to the PIAA Class 4A state championships on Monday.
“Our girls have worked hard the last two weeks with the goal of going to state tournament,” said McNeil, whose team was 3-5 in early May. “We’re not overlooking the fact that we’re going to try to win the district, but we’re looking forward to going to the state tournament.”
Junior Annie Karcutskie provided the game winner, singling up the middle to score Nicole Silinskie with one out in the top of the 10th. The 10th inning was played under international tiebreaker rules and Silinskie, who made the last out of the ninth, started the inning on second base.
Karcutskie also singled in Wyoming Area’s three-run ninth that gave the Warriors a 5-2 lead.
“Honestly, it was one of the best feelings in the world,” Karcutskie said of her 10th-inning single. “This was probably one of the best days of my high school softball career.”
Cassidy Graham then came on in relief for the fifth time in the game and left a runner stranded at third to send the fourth-seeded Warriors into a wild celebration.
“The last inning, my mind was crazy,” said Graham, who came in to pitch in four other innings to specific batters and then hand the duties back to starter Gwen Glatz. “I feel like not only me but as a team we pulled together that last inning. It was a great inning. I’m just glad we got out of it without them getting a run.”
Wyoming Area appeared in great shape after the top of the ninth as a couple errors and an RBI single by Bri Pizzano were part of a three-run inning for a 5-2 lead.
Nanticoke was then down to its last out in the ninth with Brinley Sobeck on first base. Then Jenna Lipowski, one of the top power hitters in the state, came to bat. Lipowski was intentionally walked in her four previous plate appearances and McNeil decided to pitch to her since she couldn’t tie the game with one swing.
“That was tough,” said Glatz, who was pitching at the time. “I haven’t pitched to her all game, but coach came out and said we have one runner on and she can’t tie the game if she hits it out. Just go out there and have fun.”
Lipowski was the one smiling as she demolished a pitch well over the left-field fence to cut the deficit to 5-4. Miranda Bohn followed with a solo shot to center to send the game to the 10th.
After Wyoming Area took its 6-5 lead, Nanticoke started the bottom of the 10th with Cassie Novakowski on second. She moved to third with two outs, but Graham got a pop-up to end the game.
Nanticoke (14-1) ended its season with a district semifinal loss for a second consecutive year after winning the D2-3A title in 2015.
“We tried,” said Nanticoke coach Ryan Stetz, whose team is the only one to defeat Wyoming Area since the Warriors’ 3-5 start. “The classic example is how the girls just stuck with it today. The stuff that Jenna and Miranda did will arguably go down in Nanticoke history as two of the biggest hits we’ve ever had.”
Tunkhannock 3,
Dallas 0
Hope Jones threw a complete-game, two-hitter as Tunkhannock advanced to the D2-4A championship game. The third-seeded Tigers (11-4) will play fourth-seeded Wyoming Area (9-6) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Wilkes University.
Seventh-seeded Dallas finished its season at 7-9. Mia Dixon and Peyton Ross had the only hits for the Mountaineers.
Kendra Schultz, Sarah Traver and Hailey Farr had RBI for Tunkhannock. Schultz had two of the Tigers’ seven hits.
Holy Redeemer 2,
Lake-Lehman 0
Abbey Shorts and Taylor Josefowicz knocked in Redeemer’s only runs, both in the fourth inning, as the Royals advanced to their fifth consecutive district title game with a D2-3A semifinal win over Lake-Lehman.
Top-seeded Redeemer (16-0) will play second-seeded Mid Valley (14-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Wilkes University for the championship and a spot in the PIAA Class 3A state playoffs. Mid Valley rallied from a 5-1 deficit to defeat Lakeland 9-7.
Morgan Bienkowski doubled and Brittany Hebda singled to start Redeemer’s two-run fourth. Shorts then bunted in a run and Josefowicz plated the other with a sacrifice fly.
Corinna Scoblick had two hits and Chloe VanGorder had one for fourth-seeded Lehman, which ended its season at 10-6.
District 2 4A Semifinal
Wyoming Area 6, Nanticoke 5 (10 inn.)
Wyo Area`AB`R`H`BI
Glatz p`5`0`0`0
Pizzano ss`5`1`2`1
Parente c`5`1`1`0
Skok 3b`5`1`2`1
Melberger 2b`4`0`2`0
Silinskie lf`6`1`1`0
Koptechney cf`4`0`0`1
Karcutskie rf`5`1`2`1
Graham 1b`4`1`1`0
Totals`43`6`11`4
Nanticoke`AB`R`H`BI
Sobeck lf`5`1`0`0
Lipowski 3b`1`2`1`2
Bohn p`4`1`2`3
Brown cf`5`0`1`0
Novakowski 2b`5`0`2`0
Briggs c`5`0`0`0
Baron 1b`5`0`1`0
Murphy rf`5`0`2`0
Rakowski ss`3`1`0`0
Totals`38`5`9`5
WA`100`001`003`1`—`6
Nan`000`020`003`0`—`5
2B: Skok, Novakowski, Bohn. HR: Lipowski, Bohn.
Wyo Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Glatz (W)`7.2`7`5`5`4`3
Graham (S)`2.1`1`0`0`1`0
District 2 4A Semifinal
Tunkhannock 3, Dallas 0
Dallas`000`000`0`—`0
Tunkhannock`010`200`x`—`3
Pitching: DAL, Maddie Kelley (L) 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO. TUN, Hope Jones (W) 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 SO.
Top Hitters: DAL, Mia Dixon 1-3, Peyton Ross 1-2. TUN, Faith Jones 1-3, run; Jenna Simmons 1-2, run; Kendra Schultz 2-2, run, RBI; Paige Mokychic 1-3; Sarah Traver 1-1, RBI; Hailey Farr 1-2, RBI.
