LATROBE — Mindi McFate had worried that her team could suffer a letdown coming off winning a WPIAL softball championship just four days ago. In years past, she has seen a number of teams fall victim to the "WPIAL hangover," whether it be in the form of an early exit or an unexpectedly tight game.
But her West Allegheny squad showed no signs of being unprepared to move on from the championship high. In its opening PIAA playoff matchup Monday, West Allegheny took care of business, defeating Donegal 7-3 at Latrobe High School.
“Everybody always talks about the WPIAL hangover. It’s hard. Especially our school too, they give them the king’s treatment when we win. They get the firetrucks and the police car escort home, and it’s really a big deal,” McFate said.
“But they played well. I think, if anything, they were a little more relaxed today and a little more loose, and it definitely paid off.”
It was a pretty ideal opening playoff performance for the Indians, who played a strong game in all departments. Pitcher Ashley Seamon was solid, surrendering seven hits and three runs over seven innings. The defense was stout, and the lineup notched seven runs on 11 hits.
“We definitely did well all around, defense and offense,” Indians’ third baseman Mackenzie Partyka said. “I hope we keep that up until the state championship.”
Partyka starred for West Allegheny, reaching base four times with three hits, a walk, two home runs and three RBI’s. While Donegal pitcher Sierra Neiss’s hard throwing got the best of some of West Allegheny’s hitters, it worked to Partyka’s advantage.
“I told my teammates as soon as I came in from that first at-bat saying, ‘hey, if you make contact with it, it’s going. It’s soaring because of how fast she is and her spin,’” Partyka said.
“She’s a really good pitcher, I’ll give her that. She hits her corners well. But she was definitely going up in the count and getting ahead of all of us, so I knew that she was gonna throw a couple of bad pitches as soon as she got up on us, but then she was going to try to come back and fire them right down the middle and get that strike. So I knew that that was coming, so I just capitalized on that.”
Partyka collected her first home run on a line drive solo shot in the first inning. The Indians added to that lead with three runs in the fourth inning, as two runs scored on a throwing error to first and another scored on a passed ball.
Donegal, though, showed some fight, pulling within a run with a three-run fifth inning by way of an RBI double, RBI single and a run on a passed ball. If West Allegheny was cruising up until that point, the Indians did not panic afterward, as Partyka hit a two-run homer in the fith inning. Taylor Goldstrohm added a RBI double in the sixth, and Seamon closed the door.
"I honestly didn't (worry after Donegal scored three runs),” Partyka said. “I looked at my shortstop, Taylor Cummings, and we usually have a good, strong mental relationship. We knew when we looked at each other that we’ve got this. We know our defense is strong, we know Ashley is a great pitcher and we knew that she was going to be able to come back and seal that deal for us.”
Next on the docket for the Indians is a quarterfinal matchup against Albert Gallatin on Thursday. McFate has preached to her team to take the the games one at a time, but the end goal is clear for this Indians squad, who fell one game away from making the PIAA championship last season.
“This group has kind of been the pioneers in our program, in terms of, they were the first team to get to the WPIAL, the first team to win a WPIAL and I said, ‘let’s do something this year that you haven’t done yet. Let’s get to the state championship,” McFate said.