All season long, some of the effects of a 14-0 loss in last season’s opening-round playoff game to Lewisburg stayed with the Palisades softball team.
It was an abrupt ending to a magical run that resulted in a 15-8 record and the team’s first district title since 2010, when that team’s season also ended in the state semifinals.
This year the Pirates lost just one senior – Allie Wenskoski – and returned a robust group of seven sophomores, three juniors as well as welcoming five burgeoning freshmen.
They entered this season with a chip on their shoulder, seeking to make another impressive state run and take it a step further.
Tuesday afternoon at Bloomsburg University, District Two’s Mid Valley thumped Palisades, 8-1, in a state Class 3A semifinal game, but the Pirates ended their extraordinary season with a 24-3 record and defended their District 11 title. Mid Valley erupted for seven runs in the second inning, and Palisades was limited to four hits. Brooklynn Lucas had the lone RBI.
A few days earlier, the Pirates advanced to the semifinals with a 5-1 victory over North Penn-Liberty in which freshman Catie Russo and sophomore Karlye Teman hit home runs, and Teman tossed a three-hitter with nine strikeouts.
Head coach Jill Amato, whose club was 3-15 two seasons ago, praised the team’s development. She looked past their season-ending defeat, and instead at the big picture.
“I have been super impressed this season with the girls’ growth and maturity,” said the fifth-year head coach. “They handled the adversity of seeing new teams very well. They played relaxed and confident as a team and felt they could match any opponent.
“We struggled during prom week during the league semifinals to stay focused. But since then, they were really zoned in, and took advantage of their second-chance run through districts and states.”
Her daughter, Ashley, who was the team’s catcher and lone senior, finished her career with 100 hits. She also saw the team find a quiet confidence.
“It has been a little nerve-wracking thinking about how each of the last few games could have been my last,” she stressed. “But it has been easy for me to focus throughout these state games. I’ve been taking it one game, one at-bat, one pitch, and not taking advantage of the time. We all really followed that concept.
“I am just proud about how far we got, and we always stayed together as a team.”
Teman, who finished the year with 284 strikeouts, saw the season as another learning experience.
“I still have to avoid getting into my whole head, and work on staying strong during the entire game,” she said. “I did avoid getting as nervous as I was because I knew my defense was strong behind me.
“I have a lot of trust in my teammates, and the whole team has a lot of confidence in each other. We will all miss Ashley, though.”
The Pirates, noted junior Bri Hunter, were “focused on one game at a time. As a team, we were comfortable with each other; that gave us a certain level of confidence and helped us play well. We relied on each other and our skills to settle ourselves.
“I think some of us were overwhelmed with the thought of states last year, and we matured since that loss. It was a priority to come into the postseason with a winner’s mindset.
“It was a great run, and I am proud of how far we came and the goals we have achieved together.”
With two consecutive impressive seasons, Coach Amato knows her current team’s progression isn’t ending soon.
“I know we can keep battling and working,” she said. “We have the team that can be right back here next year. We’re not finished yet.”
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