Pittston Area third baseman Skylar Borthwick tags out Sophia Maier in the second inning Tuesday.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston Area starting pitcher Gianna Adams had a strong outing against Dallas on Tuesday, throwing a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston Area second baseman Bella Giardina tosses to first basemen Taylor Baiera (25) to get out Dallas’ Victoria Spaciano.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston Area’s Tori Parra rips a single against Dallas on Tuesday.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Home plate umpire Lou Lussi calls Pittston Area’s Skylar Borthwick safe as she slide under the tag at third base.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Dallas second baseman Jordan Porasky gets to first base before Pittston Area’s Kallie Booth (1) for the forceout in a bunt attempt.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Gianna Adams struck out 10 in a two-hit shutout and was one of four Pittston Area players with two hits May 14 when the Lady Patriots defeated visiting Wyoming Area, 4-0, in a non-league softball game.
Adams was 2-for-3 at the plate. She walked just one in her shutout.
Kallie Booth, Bella Giardina and Ava Callahan all went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Sage Weidlich and Marina Antal each had a hit and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Weidlich’s hit was a double.
Pittston Area took a 3-0 lead by scoring twice in the bottom of the third. The Lady Patriots added their final run in the sixth inning.
Olivia Allen and Anna Wisnewski had the Wyoming Area hits.
Pittston Area played one more game and completed an unbeaten regular season.
Wyoming Area was 4-14 going into Saturday’s regular-season finale against Western Wayne.
Pittston Area 10, Dallas 0
DALLAS TWP. — First, the good news for Pittston Area softball.
The Lady Patriots defeated Dallas, 10-0, Tuesday to finish the regular season unbeaten. No other softball team in District 2 can make that boast heading into next week’s district playoffs.
“I’m so proud of them,” Pittston Area coach Frank Parente said. “I told them we want to keep going until they tell us we can’t play anymore, but no one can take that away from them. I believe that’s the first time for the school, but I’m not positive the first time a team ever finished undefeated.”
And those district playoffs bring the bad news. Pittston Area (18-0) is in the District 2-4 Class 5A playoffs along with West Scranton (16-1) and Abington Heights (14-2). A strong argument could be made any of those three teams would in favored in the five other classifications.
Plus, it doesn’t end there. Seven of the eight D2/4-5A teams have won at least 10 games. The other five classifications have a total of nine teams with at least 10 victories. So, the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 champs have a tough road ahead.
“5A is a nightmare, just an absolute nightmare,” Parente said. “We’re going to be ready, but I know they’re going to be ready, too. We’re looking forward to it, we really are.”
Back to the good news.
“I think I knew in the beginning of the season that we would have a tremendous record,” Pittston Area senior center fielder Sage Weidlich said. “And now that we are undefeated, it’s like ‘Wow.’ I believed in this team that we would have an undefeated record.”
Weidlich went 3-for-4 with three doubles and three RBI on Tuesday. Her second double was part of a six-run fifth inning where Pittston Area busted open the game and left little doubt of a perfect regular season.
Weidlich’s double knocked in the final two runs of the inning to give Pittston Area a 9-0 lead. Skylar Borthwick had a two-run single and Gianna Adams and Kallie Booth each had an RBI single. Bella Giardina had a double as the Patriots grouped eight of their 17 hits in the inning.
Based on how Adams was pitching, the 3-0 lead gained in the third inning appeared to be enough. She struck out 14 and allowed one hit — a double to Sophia Maier in the second inning. Maier hit to the right-center gap was the only ball Dallas managed to get out of the infield.
After Maier’s double, Adams retired 17 in a row until issuing consecutive walks with one out in the seventh. By then, Pittston Area was up 10-0 as Weidlich plated a run in the top of the inning with a double.
Pittston Area scored three times in the third as Weidlich’s first double was followed by consecutive singles by Tori Para, Giardina and Ava Callahan.
Giardina and Para joined Weidlich with three hits each.
Borthwick had two hits and two RBI.
Wallenpaupack 15, Wyoming Area 6
Wallenpaupack scored nine times in the top of the ninth inning to win Thursday’s non-league game at Atlas Field.
Jocelyn Williams went 4-for-4 with an RBI to lead Wyoming Area.
Olivia Allen had two RBI while Morgan Janeski had three hits. Anna Wisnewski and Cassandra Skripkunas added two hits each.
Valley View 15, Wyoming Area 0
Valley View routed host Wyoming Area in Wednesday’s four-inning, non-league game.
Freshman Kalli Karwowski had three hits, three runs and three RBI to lead the Cougars.
