Pittston Area’s Gianna Adams finished out her illustrious four-year pitching career on Thursday with 14 strikeouts in the PIAA Class 5A championship in State College.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
With her teammates huddled around her, Gianna Adams spoke to her team one more time at the conclusion of the Thursday’s extra-innings loss to Thomas Jefferson in the state finals.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
STATE COLLEGE — The result wasn’t what Gianna Adams and the rest of the Pittston Area softball team wanted.
But in the final game of her record-breaking, decorated, legendary career, there’s no denying that Adams went out with one more dazzling pitching performance.
The Patriots came up a run short in Thursday’s PIAA Class 5A state championship game, falling to Thomas Jefferson 2-1 in eight innings after a walk-off single from Taylor Karpac.
It was a pitcher’s duel throughout, with Adams going to battle against Jaguars pitcher Aubrey Shaffer, the two pitching their teams into extra innings.
While tagged with the hard-luck loss, Adams did exactly what’s come to be expected of her since her first day in a Pittston Area uniform: seven innings, two earned runs on eight hits and 14 strikeouts, keeping the Thomas Jefferson bats quiet through regulation.
“We always know she’s going to battle,” Pittston Area coach Frank Parente said of Adams. “She doesn’t get touched much, but every time she does, she always fight back. It’s one of the things I love about her.”
It was a battle, for sure. Adams was tagged for a triple on the very first at-bat of the game, and left that first inning trailing 1-0.
The Jaguars showed up to hit on Thursday, and they found their way onto the basepaths with some regularity. But Adams knuckled down at every turn, finding the big strikeout or getting the fly ball needed to keep Thomas Jefferson stuck on one run, while the Patriots were able to scratch one across in the third inning to tie the game.
After the game, Adams was sure to direct credit to her teammates for keeping their focus and their energy up and for not letting the early deficit get to them as they got deeper into the game.
“We did a great job adjusting during that game,” Adams said. “Especially what you don’t see in the dugout, with the upperclassmen leading the underclassmen.
“I’m just so proud of everyone.”
Through the first seven innings, Adams managed to strand eight Jaguar baserunners, including a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning.
It may not have been the two-time PIAA Class 5A Pitcher of the Year at her most unhittable, but even on an “off” day, Adams still showed exactly why she’s been so recognized and celebrated through her Patriot career.
Just in this postseason alone, Adams struck out 43 hitters in four games. She threw a three-inning perfect game in the first round of states, and a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts in the state semis (to knock out a 26-win, previously unbeaten South Western team).
She wraps her career with a state championship in 2022, a state silver medal in 2024, the previously mentioned two state Pitcher of the Year awards and her spot among the Wyoming Valley Conference’s greats firmly secured.
Parente didn’t mince words during postgame interviews, when asked to sum up Adams and her career at Pittston Area.
“Legendary in our area,” he said. “I think she’s the most dominant pitcher our area has ever seen, and I think a lot of coaches all over would agree with that.”