Timely hitting punches OLSH softball's ticket to WPIAL semifinals

MCKEES ROCKS — In Monday’s first-round matchup against Steel Valley, the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart bats could not convert in key situations during the contest as the bats fell silent until late in the game when the Chargers finally put the game away in the sixth inning.

But on Thursday, OLSH pounced on Serra Catholic in the second inning and hung a six-spot and it was enough to defeat the Eagles 10-5 to advance to the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals.

With the lack of timely hits on Monday, OLSH head coach David Quinn does what he always does the last practice before a game as he sat down with his players the night before Thursday’s quarterfinal game to get his players prepared for going up against Serra Catholic pitcher Kelly Morrissey.

That discussion with his group paid dividends as the Chargers cashed in on a multitude of opportunities which gave them an edge Thursday afternoon.

“The night before the game we have story time at the end of practice where I sit in a chair and talk to the team. Sometimes talking for 10-15 minutes with your team is better than any drill that you will ever do especially for high schoolers. I talked to them about the first pitcher [Kelly Morrissey] and we talked about some statistics and said that we had to come out swinging and we did that.”

Leann Walzer put together those timely hits as she came up in the clutch twice for the Chargers on Thursday as she played a key role in OLSH’s victory over the Eagles.

With OLSH trailing by one run and the bases full of Chargers in the top of the second inning, Walzer smoked a bases-clearing three-run double to give the team a two-run advantage.

Then late in the contest in need of insurance runs to put the game away, Walzer cashed in again this time with a two-run single scoring Lili Wamsley and and Jordyn Velmine to extend the lead to five runs.

“I knew that I needed to do something for my team, and I needed to pick up my teammates while also trying to pick up myself,” Walzer said.

The Chargers bats were patient in that big second inning which paid dividends throughout the inning as they made Serra Catholic pitcher Kelly Morrissey work deep into the count on several batters.

OLSH worked three straight walks at the beginning of the second inning with no walk bigger than McKinley Walsh’s walk with a full count with nobody out to bring in the Charger's first run of the ballgame.

“In that inning, both our eight and nine hitters were able to work walks,” Quinn said following the game. “That was a crucial walk because she was able to flip the order for our leadoff hitter who is an RBI machine and it is just hard for the opposing pitcher to get anything at that point because if they make mistakes, we are going to take advantage of it and that is what we did there.”

Usually, when Quinn is coaching third base during the game, he blocks out the chatter and buzz that is going on in his respective dugout throughout the game.

Thursday’s game was a different story for Quinn as he could not get over how loud his dugout got after Walsh’s crucial walk with no outs in the top of the second inning which served as the momentum shift in the game before OLSH tacked on several runs.

“Usually I try and block out the cheering during the game, but for some reason after that walk, my bench exploded and it was just total noise and chaos in there,” Quinn said. “That can wreak havoc for the opponent because it just puts more pressure on them. The walk from McKinley was just a huge discipline walk and she was taking one for the team. We talked about sisterhood and playing for each other before playing for yourself and that's what these kids are doing.”

But with plenty of game left to play, the Eagles began to chip away at the Chargers lead capitalizing on two crucial mistakes by OLSH which almost cost it the lead.

In the third inning, with Wamsley trying to make a play on Morrissey’s dribbler back to the circle, the pitcher's throw went wide of the bag giving the Eagles new life which later led to an RBI two-out double two batters later as Cassidy Trahan drove Morrissey home.

Then in the fifth inning, McKinley Walsh had a similar misfortune in the field as she misplayed a deep fly ball which allowed the lead to be trimmed down to one run at the end of the inning as Serra Catholic took advantage of the Chargers miscues.

But even with the fielding troubles, OLSH did not let its emotions get the best of them as it was able to hunker down and not let the defensive mistakes translate into a lack of focus offensively for the remainder of the game. Now with the victory, OLSH will set its sights on the WPIAL semifinals as it will take on either Neshannock or Riverside at a location, date and time to be determined

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Timely hitting punches OLSH softball's ticket to WPIAL semifinals