CHURCHILL — Peters Township softball coach Heidi Karcher paced back and forth in the dugout, pulling her Indians T-shirt over her mouth between bellows of, “Tara, you can do it!”

Tara did it.

It took Seneca Valley six innings to finally get to Peters Township pitcher Tara Konopka, cutting the Indians lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Emily Watson.

With two outs, the Raiders had runners on second and third. A single could have ended the game.

But Konopka got her third strikeout of the inning, sending Karcher and the Indians into a wild celebration of a 2-1 win in the WPIAL Quad-A quarterfinals at Woodland Hills High School Thursday afternoon.

In the other dugout, Seneca Valley coach George Trew was stunned. Just like that, the season was over.

“They made every play,” Trew said. “That was the difference.

“And,” Trew added, “we didn't hit the ball.”

Konopka has a history of stifling the Seneca Valley bats. Earlier in the season, the right-hander tossed a two-hit shutout against the Raiders in a 13-0 win.

“She's tough. She's a good pitcher,” Trew said. “We had trouble hitting her the last time we played them. We had two hits in that game and just one hit until the last inning (Thursday).”

Konopka had a perfect game through four innings and a no-hitter through five before Hailey Marthaler broke it up with a solid single to lead off the bottom of the sixth.

In the seventh, Kelsey Mislan led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Watson's sharp hit up the middle after a walk to Alexa Sisko.

A balk moved Sisko and Watson up a base, but Konopka got a check-swing third strike to end the game.

“I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of these girls,” said Karcher, fighting back tears. “I get emotional. Tara really gutted it out. We work hours before each game preparing for what we are going to call in a game. She was just unbelievable. So was the defense. Unbelievable.”

Seneca Valley (14-5) hit the ball hard against Konopka at times, but usually right at a Peters Township fielder.

Indians' third baseman Hannah Berardine made a diving stop of a sharp grounder down the line by Julia Vandrak. Shortstop Abby Cunningham also made several stellar plays on sharply hit ground balls for Peters Township.

Cunningham also deliverd two singles and scored both runs on RBIs from Courtney Golembiewski in the second and fourth innings.

That was all Peters Township (15-4) could muster against Watson, who also was sharp in the circle for the Raiders.

Watson was in more trouble throughout the game than her counterpart, though, as the Indians stranded at least one runner on base in each of the first six innings. But Watson was adept at getting out of jams.

“We made a couple of plays behind her and she got herself out of a couple tight spots,” Trew said. “We couldn't have asked anything more of her.”

Peters Township will now move on to play Hempfield, a 3-0 winner over North Allegheny, on a day and at a site and time to be determined.

Trew said his team should have no regrets.

“They have a lot to be proud of,” Trew said. “They had a pretty good season. Not a lot of people thought we would do as well as we did. Five out of our six seniors have been four-year letterwinners and they have given a lot to this program.

“They battled when we didn't have any seniors when they started as freshmen and sophomores. And then as juniors, they made a real good playoff run (to the WPIAL final and state playoffs) last year and then here this year. They had a pretty good career here, and I respect what they have done and appreciate it.”

Peters Township 010 100 0 — 2 5 0

Seneca Valley 000 000 1 — 1 3 0

W: Tara Konopka 7IP (6K, 2BB). L: Emily Watson 7IP (2K, 4BB).

Peters Township (15-4): Abby Cunningham 2-1B, Courtney Golembiewski 2-1B 2-RBI, Katie O'Laughlin 1B

Seneca Valley (14-5): Kelsey Mislan 1B, Watson 1B RBI, Hailey Marthaler 1B