It had been more than a decade since Chartiers-Houston last raised a WPIAL championship banner, but the rich finally got richer on Friday afternoon.
One of the most tradition-rich programs in the WPIAL, the Buccaneers withstood a furious rally by two-time defending champion Union for an action-packed 9-5 win in the WPIAL Class 1A championship game at PennWest California’s Lilley Field. The win brings No. 3 Chartiers-Houston (17-2) its first WPIAL title since 2012 and ninth overall, good for third most among all WPIAL schools.
“This one feels just as special as all the other ones. I’m really happy for the girls,” said longtime Bucs coach Tricia Alderson, who now has six WPIAL titles as a coach at her alma mater along with two more as a star pitcher in the late-1980s. “We’re a different team this year, and we wanted to show that. … I’m glad we don’t have to talk about [the championship drought] anymore. Hopefully it won’t be another 12 years.”
Chartiers-Houston ace Meadow Ferri pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts and zero earned runs against the Scotties’ high-powered lineup, giving her 209 punchouts on the season. She also went 1 for 3 with a walk and an RBI triple to power the Bucs to victory.
“It’s just so surreal,” Ferri said. “I can’t even put into words how it feels. … This was a team effort. We got down a little bit in the [fifth] inning, but we kept fighting as a team and really pushed through.”
The other two-thirds of Chartiers-Houston’s “big three” both delivered memorable performances of their own, as junior catcher Ella Richey went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs, and sophomore shortstop Lauren Rush went 2 for 4 with a double and three runs scored along with an impressive double play in the field.
“It feels amazing,” Rush said. “We put in so much work these past few weeks. We stayed after practice to hit, and I just knew it was going to pay off at some point.”
Olivia Williams and Olivia Benedict each tallied a pair of hits for No. 1 Union (20-2), while Mallory Gorgacz went 1 for 3 with two RBIs in the defeat.
“They were the better team. They were more ready than we were,” said Scotties coach Doug Fisher. “You can’t take anything away from [Ferri]. She works that outside corner. … It was working, and she worked it.
“She’s right up there. I’d call her elite.”
After Rush singled with one out in the top of the first inning, Ferri followed with an RBI triple over the right fielder’s head to help her own cause, giving the Bucs an early 1-0 lead. Ferri then allowed a leadoff single to Williams in the bottom of the first, but she promptly struck out the next three batters she faced to strand Williams on first.
In the top of the second, Preuhs plunked Seanna Riggle on the elbow to lead off the inning, then Emily Swarrow brought her home with an RBI single after Riggle stole second to make it a 2-0 lead for Chartiers-Houston. Rush then doubled to center to lead off the third before coming home to score on an RBI groundout by Taryne Drilak.
After Alderson inserted Aubree Randolph into the game as a pinch-runner on third base, Randolph raced home to score on a wild pitch on the very next pitch, giving the Bucs a 4-0 lead midway through the third.
“I’ve always been fast,” Randolph said. “I guess track helped a lot, for the timing. It just comes naturally to me.”
Williams led off the bottom of the third with another single for Union, but Ferri got Irelyn Fisher to ground into an inning-ending double play after a popout by Addie Nogay. Chartiers-Houston then tacked on two more in the top of the fourth, as Richey scored Alana Palone with an RBI double to center before coming home to score on an error.
The Scotties finally got on the board after an error on a hard-hit grounder to first by Tori May, but the Bucs kept a comfortable five-run cushion going into the fifth.
Just when it seemed like Chartiers-Houston would cruise to a one-sided victory, Union picked itself up off the canvas and showed the heart of a champion, posting four runs in the bottom of the fifth — including three with two outs. After a costly two-out error by the Bucs, Gorgacz roped a two-run single followed by an RBI double by Benedict to cut the deficit to 6-5 going into the sixth.
“We always like to come from behind. I don’t know why we do that,” Fisher said. “It just didn’t happen this time.”
Like any true champion would, though, Chartiers-Houston withstood the Scotties’ rally then answered back with a few haymakers of its own in the top of the sixth. After Richey singled home Randolph, Zaylee Fonner came up with a clutch two-out, two-run single to stretch the Bucs’ lead to 9-5.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Richey said. “I think everyone got a little bit nervous [after the fifth inning], but I was pretty confident that we would answer.”
Then, with a runner on first in the bottom of the seventh, Ferri recorded back-to-back strikeouts of Preuhs and Gorgacz to end the game and kickstart the Bucs’ championship celebration in the infield.
“I just stayed calm and had trust in my teammates behind me,” Ferri said. “I could tell from the way people were practicing — even this morning, coming here, everybody was ready. Everybody was hungry.
“I knew we could do it.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
