Soggy Setback
UNIVERSITY PARK — Playoff perfection had landed Moniteau in the PIAA Class AA softball championship game.
A perfect storm helped to send the Warriors home disappointed.
Two reasons why Moniteau was able to outscore its five previous postseason opponents by a combined score of 34-0 were a strong defense and pitcher Kennedy DeMatteis' ability to hit her spots.
Both eluded the Warriors early in Thursday's state title clash against Holy Redeemer, which took advantage of three walks and two errors to shoulder the Warriors with an almost-unimaginable 5-0 deficit after one half inning.
Moniteau never did threaten the Royals' lead, falling 9-3 at Penn State University's Beard Field. It was the second straight crown for Holy Redeemer.
The start of the game, which was originally scheduled for 3 p.m., was pushed back nearly two and a half hours because of inclement weather.
“It was kind of a funky day for both teams,” said Moniteau coach Dan Beebe. “At 4 p.m., we weren't even sure that we'd be playing. We finally found out at 4:15 that we were playing and it took us out of our routine. But that's no excuse for the way we played.”
DeMatteis had allowed just five combined hits in the Warriors' three state playoff wins leading up to the final, but she was greeted with a base hit off the bat of Morgan Bienkowski to start the game.
Following a sacrifice bunt, Olivia Menning grounded out. In an attempt to get Bienkowski at third base at the end of the play, the ball hit Holy Redeemer's sophomore and bounced into shallow left field, allowing her to score the game's first run.
Tiana Wren and Brittany Hebda then drew back-to-back walks prior to Kristen Coffay's groundball to shortstop.
Moniteau's Cortney Claypoole moved to her left to make the play, but collided with Wren. Claypoole claimed she had been obstructed from making a play on the ball.
“The umpires said that the ball had already gone past Cortney, but she told me she felt the ball nick her glove,” said Beebe.
The call stood in the Royals' favor and loaded the bases for Abigail Shorts, who was walked for a 2-0 lead.
Holy Redeemer then blew the game open when Meghan Armstrong singled, scoring two runs. Shorts scored on the play when the ball was misplayed in the outfield.
“Our girls came out and played from the first inning,” said Holy Redeemer coach Jerome Paulukonis. “They hit the ball hard.”
“We cracked a bit under the pressure,” admitted DeMatteis, who tried to remain calm despite her three free passes in the frame. “I was trying to hit the corners, but the umpire wasn't giving them to me.”
Following the top of the first, Beebe offered words of encouragement to DeMatteis.
“I told her to be cool, be herself,” he said. “She's a gamer and she just had a tough day. There was a lot of pressure on her.”
Moniteau had scored at least 10 runs in 18 games during the season and the team was confident its offense would respond.
“We'd done it before,” said junior outfielder Gabby Stewart. “We just had to go up there and take our hacks.”
While the Warriors (24-2) did manage three extra-base hits, Holy Redeemer pitchers Coffay and Bienkowski never allowed them a big inning.
DeMatteis scored on an error in the bottom of the first following a double by her sister, Kristina.Coffay then surrendered an RBI-double to Kennedy DeMatteis in the third inning that scored Claypoole.Claypoole followed up Stewart's double with an RBI-single in the fifth off of Bienkowski, who entered the circle in the fourth inning.But the Royals (25-3) added single tallies in the third and fifth. They added two more in the sixth as Menning scored on an error and Wren came home on a fielder's choice.“If we had been down by only one run, we could have played small ball,” Beebe said, “but with the lead they had, I didn't want to take that chance. We chipped away a bit, but the 5-run deficit was too much to overcome.”Bienkowski, who was 4-for-5 at the plate, earned the win in the title game for the second straight year. She pitched four innings of relief, striking out six and walking none. She set the Warriors down in order in the fourth, sixth and seventh.It was the fourth time in as many games that Paulukonis used both pitchers at least three innings.“Morgan throws a bit harder than Kristen,” he said. “It takes teams a while to adjust to the speed and that makes a big difference.”Despite the defeat, Beebe was not short in complimenting his team.“I'm so proud of what they accomplished and I told them to keep their heads up,” he said. “We lost to the defending state champions. It was a tough loss, but not a bad loss.“This team had the whole community behind it. People were wearing their 'Roll 'Teau' shirts and our fans had this place jumping.”Holy Redeemer 501 012 0 — 9 11 2Moniteau 101 010 0 — 3 7 4W: Morgan Bienkowski 4 IP (6K, 0BB). L: Kennedy DeMatteis 7 IP (1K, 9BB).Holy Redeemer (25-3): Morgan Bienkowski 4-1B R RBI, Olivia Menning R, Tiana Wren 1B 2R, Brittany Hebda 2R, Kristen Coffay 2-1B R RBI, Abigail Shorts 1B 2R RBI, Meghan Armstrong 1B 2RBI, Samantha Rejza 2-1B RBIMoniteau (24-2): Gabby Stewart 2B R, Cortney Claypoole 1B R RBI, Kennedy DeMatteis 1B 2B R RBI, Kristina DeMatteis 2B, Sara Hull 1B, Alazia Greaves 1B
