Roll 'Teau
WEXFORD — South Park's faithful waited, assuming that at some point the team's offense would make some noise.
All they heard was a resounding thud from the 3-hit shutout Kennedy DeMatteis dropped on the Eagles' potent lineup.
DeMatteis struck out eight and walked two in leading Moniteau to a 3-0 victory in a PIAA Class AA softball semifinal playoff Monday afternoon at North Allegheny High School.
The Warriors (24-1) will face District 2 champion Holy Redeemer for the state championship at 3 p.m. Thursday at Penn State University.
“When I was a freshman, I thought we could get to the state title game at some point before I graduated,” said DeMatteis, a junior. “But now it's reality.”
And due in no small part to DeMatteis' right arm.
Moniteau held a 2-0 lead entering the sixth inning. Up to that point, the Eagles had just a pair of singles — off the bats of Breanna Nugent in the first inning and Cassie Scanlon in the fifth.
But when South Park's Kaitlyn Morrison led off the sixth with a triple, the Eagles seemed poised to end DeMatteis' streak of 10 straight games without giving up a run.
DeMatteis had other ideas. She struck out Katlyn Pavlick, got Katie Isenberg to foul out and fanned Justine Dean. Just like that, the Eagles were back to scratching their heads.
“We were talking about it on the bus ride down,” said Moniteau coach Dan Beebe. “She wasn't going to let anything get to her. South Park has four Division I (college recruits) and they are a good hitting team, but Kennedy pitched very well, especially in the sixth. After that leadoff triple, to go after the big sticks like she did, it was great.
“If the other team can't score, they can't win.”
“Whether the bases are empty or there's a runner in scoring position, there is no difference in my approach,” DeMatteis said.
The Warriors broke a scoreless tie with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. After two outs, Gabby Stewart singled and scored when Cortney Claypoole roped a triple down the left-field line. DeMatteis then helped her own cause with an RBI-double.
The runs were charged to Dean, who struck out six and did not walk a batter.
“She caught us off-guard at times today,” Claypoole said of Dean, “but we knew she was going to throw a lot of change-ups. The pitch I hit was a change-up.”
“Timely hits,” Beebe said. “You get to this stage and you're not always going to be able to score 11 runs like we did (in Thursday's 11-0 win over Ellwood City).”Moniteau scored its final run in the bottom of the sixth as Alyssa Dailey's sacrifice fly plated DeMatteis.“Justine didn't do anything bad,” said South Park coach Larry Mercurio of his pitcher. “I thought she changed speeds and mixed it up well.”Mercurio made a rare move in the bottom of the first inning.Angela Shine was announced as South Park's starting pitcher and she threw one pitch — which Stewart launched into deep center for a triple.Shine then switched positions with Dean, who started the game playing first base.Mercurio said he made the move to create some flexibility in his use of courtesy runners during the game.Dean then hit Claypoole with a pitch, but got Kennedy DeMatteis to ground into a double play and struck out Kristina DeMatteis.South Park 000 000 0 — 0 3 2Moniteau 002 001 x — 3 6 1W: Kennedy DeMatteis 7 IP (8K, 2BB). L: Justine Dean 6 IP (6K, 0BB).South Park (16-5): Breanna Nugent 1B, Kaitlyn Morrison 3B, Cassie Scanlon 1BMoniteau (24-1): Gabby Stewart 1B 3B R, Cortney Claypoole 3B R RBI, Kennedy DeMatteis 1B 2B R RBI, Megan Hepler 1B, Alyssa Dailey RBIThursday: Moniteau vs. Holy Redeemer, PIAA Class AA championship game at Penn State University, 3 p.m.
