Valley wins WPIAL title
CALIFORNIA, Pa. — Valley's Maureen Pallone singled home Katrina George with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning to give Valley a 5-4 victory over Burrell in the WPIAL Class AA softball championship before about 500 fans at California (Pa.) University's Lilly Field.
The victory marks Valley's second WPIAL title in three years.
Valley tied it, 4-4 in the bottom of the 12th, when George's grounder got past Burrell first baseman Bridget Fisher, allowing Casey Bonk to score.
Burrell's Nina Spagnolo singled home Clair Fisher with one out in the top of the 12th inning to give Burrell a 4-3 lead.
The teams were subject to the International Tiebreaker Rule with a base-runner starting each inning at second base since the 10th.
Valley tied it with two runs in the bottom of the ninth when Katrina George's sharp grounder drove in Casey Bonk with no outs to make it 3-3.
Clair Fisher's grounder went through the legs of Valley second baseman Allison Rayburn, allowing two runs to score and break a 1-1 tie that lasted since second inning.
Valley scored its second run after a double by Casey Bonk and throwing error by Burrell allowed Kelsy Bonk to score from second.
Burrell, which made a number of strong defensive plays, got a double play from shortstop Nina Spagnolo, who snared a line drive by Valley's Casey Bonk and tagged out Allison Rayburn to end the 11th inning.
Burrell threatened in the top of the seventh. After Tess Napierkowski and Claire Fisher singled, Justine Damico grounded to third but Carly Bonk's throw to first was high and Damico was safe. Valley first baseman Katrina George threw home to catcher Casey Bonk, who tagged out a sliding Napierkowski for the final out of the frame.
Moses scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 1-1 in the second inning.
Valley pitcher Caitlin Nealer took a hard line-drive to the chest in the top of the second inning and received medical attention on the mound. She stayed in the game to pitch.
Tess Napierkowski had three hits for Burrell, which had 12 hits off Valley star pitcher Caitlin Nealer.
Moses reached on an error and Napierkowski singled to right before the wild pitch.
A rare, four-base error allowed Valley to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Valley lead-off hitter Allison Rayburn hit a chopper back to Burrell pitcher Casey Moses, but Moses threw the ball into right field and it rolled all the way to the fence. The throw came to first base, but by then, Rayburn had scored.
