PHILIPSBURG — The No. 9 seeded Westmont Hilltop softball team was facing enough adversity at No. 1 Philipsburg-Osceola in the District 6, AA quarterfinal on May 23 without bringing more upon itself.
Yet that’s what happened to the underdog Hilltoppers. Wesmont extended the Mounties’ first three innings by committing four errors, and P-O was quick to exploit every bit of its good fortune.
Philipsburg scored three first-inning runs, added another two in the second, and continued to steadily draw away from Westmont for a 9-0 victory and a trip to the district semifinals.
Eight of the nine starters for P-O had a least one hit on the day, and four — Kylie Thal, Haylee Hayward, Cam Harris and Jayde Burge — led the way with two apiece. Thal and Harris both had two doubles, and senior left fielder Chelsey Henry knocked in two runs and lofted a solo home run in the second inning.
Harris and junior Maggie Peck split the duties on the mound for P-O, and they combined on a four-hit shutout, with three strikeouts and just two walks. Peck, who relieved Harris in the fifth inning, retired all nine batters she faced in order.
Add in a mistake-free defense and the game becomes another example of why the Mounties every year are vying for championships.
“Fortunately, the kids buy into what we do,” Philipsburg-Osceola head coach Jim Gonder said. “Get better today, and at the end of the year, good things happen.
“In playoff games, everyone knows that if you lose, you are going home. That puts a little pressure on you, but fortunately we have kids who are really good leaders and defensively we’ve been doing a good job and that’s the key to us.”
P-O wasted little time getting on the board against Westmont. Peck walked to open the first inning, and Thal followed with an RBI double to left-center. Hayward singled, and Henry reached on a fielder’s choice when Westmont unsuccessfully tried to cut off Thal from scoring on Henry’s grounder.
Harris then reached on an error, and one out later, Hayward scored on a sacrifice fly by Maddie Lucas that made it 3-0.
The Mounties made it 5-0 in the second when Peck singled and came all the way around on a throwing error after a sacrifice bunt by Thal. One out later, Henry followed with her home run that sailed far over the fence in left field.
“The home run ball was in my zone,” Henry said, “and I knew if I could hit it, it was going to be gone. I didn’t care what the pitch was, if it was in my zone, it was gone.”
And it was.
P-O kept the pressure on with an unearned run in the third, followed by two more runs in the fourth on consecutive doubles by Harris, Burge and Lucas that made the score 8-0.
Thal’s second double in the fifth, followed by an RBI hit by Hayward, wrapped up the scoring for the Mounties.
“We really stayed focused all week,” Hayward said, “and walked in and keyed in on the things we needed to get better at. I think we took advantage of some of the mistakes. We talk about that, when they fall, we have to keep going.
“I think we played really well today, and everybody played really well. I didn’t have hits here and there, but it doesn’t matter. We have girls on this team that pick you up, that’s our entire motto.”
While Philipsburg was deliberately adding to its lead, Harris retired six of the first seven batters she faced. Westmont, however, did threaten to break through in the third and fourth innings.
In the third, after two singles and a walk loaded the bases with two outs, Harris struck out Courtney Krall to end the inning without any damage.
In the fourth, the Hilltoppers loaded the bases again with one out, this time on a single by Gabby Nash, a walk and a hit batter. But Peck, playing first base at the time, cut off a run with a force-play at home, and then Harris got leadoff hitter Hannah Davis to pop up for the third out.
Peck came in to relieve Harris in the fifth, and she did not allow another Westmont baserunner.
“When you are playing the best team, the No. 1 seed,” Westmont-Hilltop coach John Grace said, “you can’t give them the extra outs. We did that the first inning, the second inning and the third inning. And their top six are a strong as they can be.
“We had opportunities though, but their pitcher came through when she needed to. It wasn’t our day.”
Philipsburg-Osceola (19-2) now will host No. 4 Ligonier Valley Thursday, May 26, at 4 p.m. in the district semifinals. The winner will advance to the finals Friday, June 1, at the Nittany Lion Softball Park on the Penn State campus.
