BUTLER TWP — The message sent by Seneca Valley softball coach George Trew was a simple one: There's a lot of work to do.

The Raiders may be headed to the WPIAL playoffs with a third-place finish in Section 3-AAAA, but they are playing below their standards.

“There's a lot of things I can't be pleased with,” Trew said following a sloppy 10-7 road win over Butler Thursday afternoon. “We have to sharpen those things up before we get to the playoffs. We made a lot of mistakes, mental mistakes and physical mistakes. We can't have that.”

Those miscues nearly cost the Raiders against a feisty Butler club.

Seneca Valley needed a grand slam off the bat of Megan Buletko in the top of the sixth inning to break a 5-5 tie and then needed to withstand a Butler rally in the bottom of the seventh to hang on for the win in the section finale for both teams.

The Raiders committed four errors, let a popup behind the second base bag drop and missed gunning down several Butler base runners.

“We had a bad day today, as far as being mentally in the game,” Trew said. “I don't think we were quite there today.”

Early on, it looked as if Butler wasn't ready to play.

Seneca Valley scored two runs in the top of the first inning and two more in the top of the second thanks to five Butler errors.

The Golden Tornado regrouped, however, and rallied to tie the game at four thanks to an RBI triple by Aubrey Schmeider and a run-scoring single by Rachel Redman against Seneca Valley pitcher Emily Watson.

The senior right-hander threw a perfect game against Butler in April, but struggled against the Tornado lineup this time around.

“They hit the ball very well, but we didn't support her,” Trew said. “We made some mistakes, so that's more hitters she needs to pitch to and before you know it, she's pitched to 10 extra batters she probably shouldn't have had to pitch to. That makes a difference.”

For Butler, it was a moral victory of sorts.

“I was very, very pleased with their effort, especially after we started out so slowly. Those first two innings hurt,” said Butler coach Dan Hindman. “They bounced back and continued to fight and continued to work. That's what this team has been all about this year.”

Seneca Valley hit the ball well against Butler starting pitcher Emily McDonald.

Julia Vandrak finished the day 4-for-5 with a double and four runs scored, Kelsey Mislan had a pair of hits and Sarah Blagg had a double for the Raiders.

Butler had seven base hits against Watson. The seven hits were a season high for the Golden Tornado.

On senior day, Butler senior Hannah Henry had a solo home run in the seventh inning and was 2-for-4 with three runs scored. Schmeider also had a big day, going 4-for-4 and scoring four runs.

“It was fantastic to see that,” Hindman said of the offensive outburst against Watson, one of the best pitchers the WPIAL has to offer. “We've been working a lot on hitting in recent practices. Maybe it's showing. Tonight we had some success.”

Both teams have a pair of non-section games left on the schedule.

For Butler, it's a chance to build on things for next season. For Seneca Valley, it's a chance to iron out the kinks before the postseason.

“We hit the ball and if we can clean up the mistakes, we'll be OK,” Trew said. “They just have to relax and play ball. They just have to get focused and they'll do that. That shouldn't be a problem. We have a couple of games next week, and we'll come out ready to go.”

Seneca Valley 220 104 1 — 10 11 4Butler 022 010 2 — 7 7 6W: Emily Watson 7IP (6K, 2BB).

L: Emily McDonald 5.2IP (2K, 3BB).

Seneca Valley (13-4, 9-3): Julia Vandrak 2B 3-1B RBI 4-R, Kelsey Mislan 2-1B, Alexa Sisko 1B, Megan Buletko HR 1B 4-RBI, Sarah Blagg 2B, Paige Foley 1B

Butler (4-12, 3-9): Hannah Henry HR 1B RBI 3-R, Aubrey Schmeider 3-1B 3B RBI 4-R, Rachel Redman 1B 2-RBI, Erin Pennington 2-1B, Hope Wonderling 1B

Today: Knoch at Butler

Monday: Sto-Rox at Seneca Valley