ADAMS TWP — As well as Mars has been playing, Ambridge has been playing better.

Both coaches know the past won't matter much when the two teams meet for the WPIALClass AAAgirls softball championship at 11 a.m. Thursday at California (Pa.)University.

"The team that commits the fewest errors is going to win,"Ambridge coach Jim Huwar said. "Our teams are similar in that we rely on strong pitching and defense."

"We know it's going to be an excellent, competitive game,"Mars coach Michele Goodworth said.

The Planets (19-3) are playing in the first WPIALsoftball championship game in the program's 16-year history. Goodworth played on the first varsity girls softball team at Mars.

"To be able to come back and coach the program I started with to this point is very special to me,"she said.

But Goodworth's team has its work cut out for it Thursday.

Ambridge (20-1) has reeled off 20 consecutive wins since dropping its season opener, 1-0, to Keystone Oaks March 24.

The Bridgers carry a .306 team batting average and have outscored their opponents 162-5 this season. Ambridge defeated its previous three playoff opponents, Kittanning, Keystone Oaks and Belle Vernon, 31-0.

"We've had a good team for a long time,"Huwar said. "But for years, Ambridge was the smallest Class AAAAteam and somebody like North Allegheny or Shaler would eventually knock us out of the playoffs.

"Ambridge has never won any kind of WPIALtitle until moving to Triple-A."

Since Ambridge moved down to Class AAAlast year, it has won 44 of 47 games. The Bridgers are defending WPIALand PIAAClass AAAchampions.

Eight of the 10 girls who lettered on last year's team returned this year. But senior right fielder Rachelle Carello, the Bridgers' No. 4 hitter who was also 6-0 on the mound, will miss Thursday's game.

"We think she has a torn ACL,"Huwar said. "Either way, she's done for the postseason and we miss her bat."

Ambridge's leading hitter is senior second baseman Liz Decima (.413) while senior catcher Courtney Briola is hitting .350.

Senior Amy Joy handles the pitching duties.

"Amy's one of the best around,"Huwar said. "She's done everything we've asked her to do and she has great control."

So, too, does Mars junior Monica Glomb, who has 34 strikeouts and only two walks through three playoff victories.

"Monica has been looking forward to this challenge,"Goodworth said. "She plays summer softball with a lot of the Ambridge girls, so she knows them well."

"Our girls know how good Glomb is,"Huwar said.

Since beginning the season 0-2, Mars has reeled off 18 wins in 19 games. The lone blemish during that stretch is a 3-1 loss May 8 at Hampton.

Mars has outscored its opponents 88-22. Brie Berkopec, Brittany Berkopec and Glomb have produced 12 of the Planets' 18 hits in the playoffs.

Kyla Ferguson, a .216 hitter at the time, and part-time player Emma Wharrey, a .250 hitter, have produced late-inning, game-deciding hits so far this postseason.

"The Berkopec girls are the keys for them,"Huwar said. "We have to find a way to limit their production."

Both teams already clinched spots in next week's state tournament.