Lady Warriors crush BEA for first title
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UNIVERSITY PARK -- Everett had its fans on edge heading into the top of the fifth inning of Thursday's PIAA Class 2A softball championship game at Penn State's Beard Field.
The Lady Warriors and Bald Eagle Area, playing in its seventh state final, were still scoreless.
But Everett did what it preached all season and finished strong to the absolute joy of a sea of fans clad in red throughout a stadium with every seat filled and most of the standing room space occupied.
A couple BEA miscues helped get the Lady Warriors on the scoreboard, and an avalanche of offense followed once Morgan Bowser and Cloe Price came home on an error.
Everett scored all of its runs in the fifth and sixth innings and won the school's first softball state championship, 12-1.
"Our theme this year was finish strong," Everett coach Jackie Levy said. "Even as we rode out of town today, we had tons of people on the street with signs that said finish strong. We knew the whole community was behind us. We had a great crowd here today. This is history for Everett softball today."
Senior Makenna Richards was in the middle of both big innings. She had an RBI single and scored in the fifth inning and then hit a three-run home run in her last high school at bat in the sixth to finish the game 4-for-4.
"This is euphoric. It's crazy," Richards said. "This is something that every girl dreams about when she comes here, and it's just crazy to think that a little town came here and did this."
Levy said she wasn't shocked to see Richards have such a big game.
"She has done that in big moments since she has been in our program," Levy said. "For her to finish her career here at Everett with a home run, I couldn't write a better script for how it played out."
Everett got a runner in scoring position in each of the first four innings, but Bald Eagle Area pitcher Sierra Albright, who struck out 16 batters in BEA's semifinal win, got out of trouble each time.
Bowser started off the fifth by reaching on an error, and Price singled. Jade Colledge sacrificed the runners to second and third, and Bald Eagle Area opted to intentionally walk Everett senior pitcher Olivia Hillegas, who had doubled off the fence earlier in the game.
Two more errors during Kirstin Feathers' at bat led to the 2-0 lead.
"We have a young team, so at the end of the day, you expect growing pains," Bald Eagle Area coach Don Lucas said. "You just don't want them in the state finals. It happens, but we're not going to let one game deter a great season."
Richards followed with a single, and she eventually scored on Addison Wood's double.
"The energy in the dugout just kind of changed," Richards said. "We were kind of dead before. We were hitting, but it was going to people. Then we strung along a couple hits, and once we did that, our energy skyrocketed."
Rachel Bryan accounted for Bald Eagle Area's run with a solo home run off the foul pole in the bottom of the fifth inning that made it 5-1.
Bowser led off the next inning again, and this time she doubled. Price followed with a triple, and Olivia Hillegas and Feathers singled before Richards' three-run home run made it 10-1.
"(Albright's) speed was very good for me," Richards said. "She had a lot of movement. I always hit better with the movement pitchers. I had a bad game last game, so when I have a bad game, I usually hit well the next game."
Marissa Hillegas and Wood singled, both moved up on a passed ball and both scored on Ava Weicht's two-run single. Weicht's hit meant everyone in Everett's starting lineup finished with at least one hit during the 15-hit barrage.
"We have been zoned in on the hitting side of things," Levy said. "The girls have been wanting to do that to help Olivia when she's pitching. It was so cool to see someone different every time coming up with a hit, putting the ball in play and having quality at bats."
Olivia Hillegas, one of just three Everett seniors on the team along with Richards and Denae Mobus, ended her high school career and the state championship victory by striking out Ava Stere to set off a celebration.
"This is one of the biggest moments of my life," Hillegas said. "I feel like I have worked up to this for years and years. It's just amazing. It's extra special coming in my senior year. I said I wanted to soak the most out of my senior year as possible, and I definitely got to do that."
The Lady Warriors made school history, capping off a 26-0 season that included a state semifinal win over defending state champion Neshannock, just a year after Everett's baseball team won the school's first state championship.
Many of the girls who enjoyed Thursday's win on the field were in the stands at that game knowing it could have been them celebrating a year ago after they fell in the state quarterfinals to Laurel.
"When we went to the (quarterfinals) last year, we knew we could have gone further," Richards said. "This year, from the beginning of the year, we told ourselves we could do it. We dedicated ourselves to giving it our all."
EVERETT (12): Price cf 322, Colledge 2b 301, O. Hillegas p 322, Feathers c 421, Richards dp 424, Brady rf 000, M. Hillegas 3b 211, Wood 1b 412, Weicht lf 401, Bowser ss 421. Totals - 31-12-15.
BALD EAGLE AREA (1): Eckert c 301, Baney rf 300, Thompson lf 301, Stere 1b 300, Housel 2b 200, King 3b 200, Bryan ss 211, Uberti dp 100, Albright p 000, Habovick cf 200. Totals - 21-1-3.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Everett 000 057 X - 12 15 0
Bald Eagle Area 000 010 X - 1 3 4
E--Bryan 2, King, Baney. 2B--Thompson, Eckert, O. Hillegas, Wood, Bowser. 3B--Price. HR--Bryan, Richards. RBI--Richards 4, Weicht 2, Price, O. Hillegas, Feathers, M. Hillegas, Wood, Bryan. SB--Price, Richards.
PITCHING
Everett: O. Hillegas (W)--6IP, 3H, 9K, 1BB, 1R, 1ER, 83 pitches.
Bald Eagle Area: Albright (L)--6IP, 15H, 4K, 1BB, 1HBP, 12 R, 7ER, 123 pitches.
Umpires: Brandon Hibbler (HP), Dennis Brong (1B), Mark Weil (2B), Kevin Hoffman (3B).
Records: Everett (26-0); Bald Eagle Area (23-3).