Taylor Cummings picked the right moment for her first home run of the season. Her shot in the first inning set the tone for West Allegheny as it cruised to a 10-3 win over Albert Gallatin and booked a return trip to the state semifinals.
MCMURRAY — Monday couldn’t end fast enough for Taylor Cummings.
While her West Allegheny softball team won its first-round playoff game, the Indians shortstop wanted to forget her 0 for 4, three-strikeout performance as fast as possible.
It didn’t take her long.
Cummings smacked a home run in the first inning to set the tone for the day as West Allegheny cruised to a 10-3 win over Albert Gallatin on Thursday and advanced to the PIAA Class 5A semifinals.
“I was happy to have that hit coming back from the last game, where I struck out three times,” Cummings said. “It was definitely just a one-game issue. I haven’t struggled that much all season. I just really relied on everyone else and tried to cheer them on, keep a positive attitude.”
Cummings was on base four times in the game, as she also walked twice and had a single. The senior infielder also drove in West Allegheny’s fourth run with an RBI groundout in the third.
“If you know Taylor at all, that’s her personality,” West Allegheny coach Mindi McFate said. “Very little bothers Taylor, which is a great thing to have as an athlete. … She hasn’t hit a home run all season, and in her first at-bat, she puts one out of the park.”
West Allegheny had production throughout the lineup as every batter reached base at least once. Leadoff hitter Taylor Goldstrohm had three hits and drove in three runs, including two on a pair of doubles.
“After coming back from that strikeout (in the first inning), I just wanted to get on base for my team and I think I did that,” Goldstrohm said.
Goldstrohm was able to drive in her three runs because Megan Pollinger, Amy Notle, and Angela Costa — the Nos. 7, 8 and 9 hitters — reached base six times. Pollinger drove in three runs, including two on an RBI single that was part of West Allegheny’s five-run sixth inning. The Indians scored at least one run in every inning except the fifth and seventh.
“I think that makes us unique,” Goldstrohm said. “Not a lot of teams can say that they can hit one through nine, and that makes us special.”
Now West Allegheny will turn its attention to the state semifinals, the stage where the Indians exited the postseason last year. That 6-5 loss to Cedar Cliff may serve as motivation for West Allegheny as it prepares to take on Thomas Jefferson, which the Indians beat 4-2 in the WPIAL championship on May 31.
“We came into last year a little flat,” McFate said. “So we’ve been focusing on getting pumped up and staying pumped up. …When we played them the first time, we found a way to win that game, but I don’t know that it was our best performance of the season. So we have to come out and leave it all on the field.”