UNIVERSITY PARK — Mindful of what his team had lost, Moniteau softball coach Dan Beebe made a point to mention what it had gained — experience.

Shortly after the Warriors were defeated 9-3 by Holy Redeemer in Thursday’s PIAA Class AA title game, Beebe looked toward the future.

“I am going to watch the DVD of this game to see what I can do better,” he said. “We have learned from our mistakes in the past and I’m sure we will learn from this.”

Moniteau loses two starters from this year’s team — seniors Alyssa Dailey and Courtney Sowinski, but the program will bring back the other seven starters who helped amass a team batting average of .469.

Also returning in 2017 will be pitcher Kennedy DeMatteis, who went 23-2 this season.

“We have a great class coming back,” said Beebe. “We have one more year to make a run at this thing. I’m not saying that our path will be easy, but a lot of the good teams we played this year — Everett, Ellwood City, South Park — are all going to be Class AAA next year with the realignment. We will still be in Class AA.”

In one respect, Thursday’s game fulfilled a dream for Moniteau outfielder Gabby Stewart.

“We were so pumped to be in this position,” she said. “I can remember thinking as a little kid, ‘I want to be on that field (playing for a state title).’”

With Thursday’s loss, this trip left something to be desired, but Stewart and her teammates are determined to get back here.

“We can look at this game and say, ‘OK, there’s a team better than us out there.’ Or we can look at it as we beat ourselves. I believe that’s what happened today. We just have to train harder.”

It often takes time for the sting of a loss such as this to wear off, but DeMatteis knows the magnitude of what she and her teammates accomplished this year.

“It meant a lot because we were the first team (in any sport) from our school to make it this far,” she said. “Everybody was excited and I can already appreciate what we did. We will be better next year.”