Shaler Area in PIAA AAA Finals!!! WPIAL~Titan Pleased!!!!!
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WPIAL~Titan
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Shaler Area in PIAA AAA Finals!!! WPIAL~Titan Pleased!!!!!
Wow, what a cinderella story!
The Shaler Area girls' softball team is headed to Ship to face Chambersburg at 11AM Friday after defeating Bellefonte 2-1 in the western final yesterday.
The Lady Titans finished with a modest 16-5 record. They did not win a section title (they were runner-up to North Allegheny), and they finished 4th in the WPIAL tourney.
Watch Shaler Area next year, too...They return 8 of 9 starters!!!
Shaler overwhelms no one, yet they win with defense and timely hitting.
GO LADY TITANS!!!! Bring home the gold.
WT
The Shaler Area girls' softball team is headed to Ship to face Chambersburg at 11AM Friday after defeating Bellefonte 2-1 in the western final yesterday.
The Lady Titans finished with a modest 16-5 record. They did not win a section title (they were runner-up to North Allegheny), and they finished 4th in the WPIAL tourney.
Watch Shaler Area next year, too...They return 8 of 9 starters!!!
Shaler overwhelms no one, yet they win with defense and timely hitting.
GO LADY TITANS!!!! Bring home the gold.
WT
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WPIAL~Titan
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- Joined: September 5th, 2003, 6:15 pm
- Location: Titan Town, PA
TITANS RULE
Took a long ride to Shippensburg University today. Boy, am I glad I did!!!
The Shaler Area Lady Titans defied the softball Gods today in beating heavily favored Chambersburg 3-2 at ShipU.
The Titans jumped on Chambersburg early, scoring 2 in the first and 1 in the 2nd inning to take a 3-0 lead. Chambersburg scored 2 in the top of the 5th, but had a runner thrown out on an attempted steal of home to end the inning.
Then, in the 6th inning, Chambersburg rallied and put runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out. Just as it looked like the Trojans would break through, Shaler threw two more Trojan runners out at home to hold the lead. Chambersburg again rallied in the 7th and placed a runner in scoring position, but Shaler got the #4 and #5 hitters to pop out (one on an excellent play by the 3rd baseman running into the fence in foul territory) to end the game.
This was an upset of epic , "Hoosiers"-like proportions. If Shaler played Chambersburg 10 times, they'd probably win once. Today was that day. Chambersburg was widely considered the best team in eastern PA throughout the season (even though they were upset in the 3-AAA final) and came into the game with a 25-3 record (Shaler was a more modest 16-5).
Shaler was 7-4 at one point in the season and barely qualified for the WPIAL AAA tourney and was seeded THIRTEENTH out of 15 teams in their district tourney. They upset the #3 and #6 seeds before getting crushed by #2 seed North Allegheny 8-1 in the WPIAL semis. For those of you who don't know softball, losing 8-1 in a softball game is like losing 56-7 in a football game or by 30 in a basketball game.
Shaler squeaked into the PIAA AAA tourney as the 7-4 seed, then proceeded to beat the champs from District 8 (Carrick), the WPIAL (Mt. Lebo), and District 6 (Bellefonte). Shaler avenged a 4-0 loss to Mount Lebo and their D-1 bound pitcher Megan Rios in the western semis.
Special thanks to Head Roadie, who accompanied me on the trip. We had a great time chatting sports! We even got to join in the post-game celebration of the Lady Titans on the field.
WOW, what a way to end the 2003-04 school year/spring sports season and what a day to be a TITAN!!!!!!!!
The Shaler Area Lady Titans defied the softball Gods today in beating heavily favored Chambersburg 3-2 at ShipU.
The Titans jumped on Chambersburg early, scoring 2 in the first and 1 in the 2nd inning to take a 3-0 lead. Chambersburg scored 2 in the top of the 5th, but had a runner thrown out on an attempted steal of home to end the inning.
Then, in the 6th inning, Chambersburg rallied and put runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out. Just as it looked like the Trojans would break through, Shaler threw two more Trojan runners out at home to hold the lead. Chambersburg again rallied in the 7th and placed a runner in scoring position, but Shaler got the #4 and #5 hitters to pop out (one on an excellent play by the 3rd baseman running into the fence in foul territory) to end the game.
This was an upset of epic , "Hoosiers"-like proportions. If Shaler played Chambersburg 10 times, they'd probably win once. Today was that day. Chambersburg was widely considered the best team in eastern PA throughout the season (even though they were upset in the 3-AAA final) and came into the game with a 25-3 record (Shaler was a more modest 16-5).
Shaler was 7-4 at one point in the season and barely qualified for the WPIAL AAA tourney and was seeded THIRTEENTH out of 15 teams in their district tourney. They upset the #3 and #6 seeds before getting crushed by #2 seed North Allegheny 8-1 in the WPIAL semis. For those of you who don't know softball, losing 8-1 in a softball game is like losing 56-7 in a football game or by 30 in a basketball game.
Shaler squeaked into the PIAA AAA tourney as the 7-4 seed, then proceeded to beat the champs from District 8 (Carrick), the WPIAL (Mt. Lebo), and District 6 (Bellefonte). Shaler avenged a 4-0 loss to Mount Lebo and their D-1 bound pitcher Megan Rios in the western semis.
Special thanks to Head Roadie, who accompanied me on the trip. We had a great time chatting sports! We even got to join in the post-game celebration of the Lady Titans on the field.
WOW, what a way to end the 2003-04 school year/spring sports season and what a day to be a TITAN!!!!!!!!
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Anonymous
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Head Roadie
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AAA Final was a great game to watch. Lots of exciting moments. It was hard not to be totally captivated by the young Shaler team that was so loosy goosy it was amazing. As if they really didn't understand where they were. On the other hand C-burg was tight and feeling the pressure of a favorite. Chambersburg was the better team except on this day where the big plays at the right time went Shaler's way. 7 of 9 starters back and a phenom 8th grade pitcher coming up certainly makes them a threat in the future for a return. But as W~T and I discussed, there talent level is hardly overwhelming as their #2 league finish, and #4 district finish after qualifying as the 13 seed would indicate.
Shaler SS (Looked live Olive Oil in the famous cartoon "Popeye") was as heady an infielder as I've seen.
One thing that was interesting. I didn't think either pitcher was as good as some of the local pitchers I've seen such as Jackie Mann or Shawna Clark. They were solid. But very hittable. Difference at the AAA, I noticed, is that all the players can hit, great fielding, no weaknesses and very solid athletes at every position.
And making the trip with W~T and having a solid 6+ hours of HS sports chat was a bonus to being treated to an outstanding game.
Shaler SS (Looked live Olive Oil in the famous cartoon "Popeye") was as heady an infielder as I've seen.
One thing that was interesting. I didn't think either pitcher was as good as some of the local pitchers I've seen such as Jackie Mann or Shawna Clark. They were solid. But very hittable. Difference at the AAA, I noticed, is that all the players can hit, great fielding, no weaknesses and very solid athletes at every position.
And making the trip with W~T and having a solid 6+ hours of HS sports chat was a bonus to being treated to an outstanding game.
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Head Roadie
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Post Gazette Game article at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04171/334429.stm
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WPIAL~Titan
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HR
Good insight, HR!!!
I saw the replay of the one close play at home on the wild pitch...it looked like the girl from Cburg was safe, but it was a judgement call. Cburg didn't take care of business and let the umpires control their destiny rather than themselves.
I agree with your assessment of "Olive Oil". She's a fantastic infielder and a very good hooper as well. As a soph this year, she started in 2 major varsity sports (3 guard in basektball and SS in softball). I definitely see her being a D2 athlete in whatever sport she chooses by the time she's done, if she continues to progress.
THANKS to HR coming along for the ride to ShipU with me. Really helped me stay awake at the wheel during what was a long day of driving on the PA Turnpike!!! About 1 hour after I got home, the team bus drove right by my house, complete with a 3 unit police escort. I stopped the bus and hopped on the congratulate the girls and coaches, it was AWESOME!!!! You talk about a "loosey-goosey" team...The girls were singing KC and he Sunshine Band's hit "That's the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it, uh huh uh huh" the whole way down the road, and it could be heard outside the chartered bus, so imagine how loud it was!
The starter from the team I know (Jen Simile) and her mom and dad stopped to see me yesterday to thank me for coming to the game. Jen posed for a pic with her gold medal in front of my house with me and my sons. What a first class family!!! Those are the type of student/athletes and families that make education such a rewarding profession.
Thanks again, HR and see you next week while I'm camping at Canoe Creek! Don't forget to get the check to Coach!
W~T
I saw the replay of the one close play at home on the wild pitch...it looked like the girl from Cburg was safe, but it was a judgement call. Cburg didn't take care of business and let the umpires control their destiny rather than themselves.
I agree with your assessment of "Olive Oil". She's a fantastic infielder and a very good hooper as well. As a soph this year, she started in 2 major varsity sports (3 guard in basektball and SS in softball). I definitely see her being a D2 athlete in whatever sport she chooses by the time she's done, if she continues to progress.
THANKS to HR coming along for the ride to ShipU with me. Really helped me stay awake at the wheel during what was a long day of driving on the PA Turnpike!!! About 1 hour after I got home, the team bus drove right by my house, complete with a 3 unit police escort. I stopped the bus and hopped on the congratulate the girls and coaches, it was AWESOME!!!! You talk about a "loosey-goosey" team...The girls were singing KC and he Sunshine Band's hit "That's the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it, uh huh uh huh" the whole way down the road, and it could be heard outside the chartered bus, so imagine how loud it was!
The starter from the team I know (Jen Simile) and her mom and dad stopped to see me yesterday to thank me for coming to the game. Jen posed for a pic with her gold medal in front of my house with me and my sons. What a first class family!!! Those are the type of student/athletes and families that make education such a rewarding profession.
Thanks again, HR and see you next week while I'm camping at Canoe Creek! Don't forget to get the check to Coach!
W~T