BROOKLINE— Seneca Valley barely hit a ball hard in the fifth inning. The Raiders pounded the ball in the seventh.

Both frames showed the same result Monday afternoon at McGibbney Field:Five-spot, five-spot.

Game over.

Seneca Valley turned a close game early into a laugher, defeating Brashear 12-1 in a first-round PIAAClass AAAA girls softball tournament game.

"This was very uncharacteristic of how our team plays softball,"Brashear coach Hank Hogle said. "We've never had an inning like that fifth."

The game was tied at one entering the fifth frame. The game was no longer close coming out of it.

Dana Hughes walked to begin the inning for the Raiders. Liz Dorogy bunted the ball past the pitcher and third baseman for a hit. Jackie Mangola lofted a high fly ball that center fielder Krista Bradley lost in the sun, loading the bases.

Courtney Grootegoed hit a ball back to pitcher Lyndsey Nusser, who couldn't corral it as the ball deflected off her for a run-scoring infield single. With one out, a walk to Nicole Lollo forced home a run. Kelsey Gray then blooped a single to shallow right field, barely out of the first baseman's reach, plating another tally.

With two outs, No. 9 hitter Ashley Watkins singled to left to score a run. Hughes then hit a short pop-up off the end of the bat that fell in front of the shortstop, plating the fifth run of the inning.

"Almost every ball we hit had eyes that inning,"Seneca Valley coach George Trew admitted. "Our offense was due to score some runs. That inning seemed to get us going."

It seemed to deflate Brashear as well.

"That was so frustrating,"Hogle said. "We couldn't get our hands on the ball."

The Raiders put the game away with a five-run seventh, flexing their muscles while doing so. Hughes doubled off the left field fence. Mangola hit a two-run homer to center. Megan McCormick drilled a three-run homer into the trees located well beyond the left field fence.

"We worked the count during the early innings and made their pitcher throw a lot of pitches,"Trew said. "I think she may have gotten tired toward the end of the game.'

Hogle disagreed.

"Lyndsey wasn't tiring," he said. "Seneca Valley just has some great hitters that put solid bat to the ball."

Brashear has never won a state tournament game. The Bulls entered Monday's game as the Pittsburgh City League champion and riding a six-game winning streak.

Brashear outscored its opponents 55-3 during that win streak. The Bulls had allowed only 17 runs this season before the Raiders scored a dozen on them Monday.

"We made three errors today and misplayed some other balls,"Hogle said. "We had more fielding mistakes today than we've had all season combined.

"But I don't want to take anything away from Seneca Valley. They are a great team and they shut us down today."

Lauren Pennell pitched a three-hitter and struck out six. Grootegoed had four of the Raiders' 15 hits, but had plenty of company offensively.

All nine Seneca Valley batters hit safely in the contest. Seven scored runs and seven had at least one RBI.

"This is a typical game for us,"Trew said. "Everybody contributes."

The Raiders play Latrobe — a 2-0 winner over DuBois — in the state quarterfinals Thursday at a site and time to be announced. The game will be a rematch of the WPIALchampionship contest, which Latrobe won last week, 5-1.

Seneca Valley 000 151 5—12 15 0Brashear 010 000 0—1 3 3Lauren Pennell (W, 6K, 3BB) and Megan McCormick; Lyndsey Nusser (L, 6K, 3BB)and Kayla Crooks.

Seneca Valley (20-2): Dana Hughes 2B2-R, Liz Dorogy 2B 1B, Jackie Mangola HR 1B3-RBI2-R, Courtney Grootegoed 2B 3-1BRBI3-R, Megan McCormick HR 2-RBI, Nicole Lollo 1BRBI, Kelsey Gray 2-1B 2-RRBI, Lindsay Troyer 2BRBI, Ashley Watkins 1BRBI

Brashear (13-3): Jessica Kolb 2B, Lyndsey Nusser 1B, Brandi Piccolino 1BRBI

Thursday: Seneca Valley vs. Latrobe, PIAAClass AAAAquarterfinal, TBA