WPIAL Class 1A Softball Championship: Chartiers-Houston edges two-time defending champion Union, 9-5, to win ninth WPIAL title

It’s been more than a decade since Chartiers-Houston last raised a WPIAL championship banner, but the rich finally got richer Friday afternoon.

One of the most tradition-rich programs in the WPIAL, the Buccaneers held off a furious rally from two-time defending champion Union for an action-packed 9-5 victory in the WPIAL Class 1A championship game at Lilley Field in PennWest, California. The win brings No. 3 Chartiers-Houston (17-2) its first WPIAL title since 2012 and its ninth overall, good for third among all WPIAL schools.

“This one is just as special as all the others. I’m really happy for the girls,” said longtime Bucs coach Tricia Alderson, who now has six WPIAL titles as a coach at her alma mater as well as two more as a star pitcher in the late aughts. 1980. “We are a different team this year and we wanted to show it. … I’m glad we don’t have to talk about (the championship drought) anymore. Hopefully it won’t take another 12 years.

Chartiers-Houston ace Meadow Ferri pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts and no earned runs against the powerful Scotties lineup, giving her 209 strikeouts this season. She also went 1 for 3 with a walk and an RBI triple to propel the Bucs to victory.

“It’s so surreal,” Ferri said. “I can’t even express how I feel. … It was a team effort. We went down a little bit in the (fifth) inning, but we kept fighting as a team and we really came through.

The other two-thirds of Chartiers-Houston’s “big three” both delivered memorable performances, as junior catcher Ella Richey went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, and sophomore shortstop year Lauren Rush went 2 for 4 with a double and three runs scored as well as an impressive double play in the field.

“It’s amazing,” Rush said. “We have worked a lot in recent weeks. We stayed after practice to hit, and I knew it was going to pay off at some point.

Olivia Williams and Olivia Benedict each had two hits for No. 1 Union (20-2), while Mallory Gorgacz went 1 for 3 with two RBIs in the loss.

“It was the best team. They were more ready than us,” Scotties coach Doug Fisher said. “You can’t take anything away from (Ferri). She works in this outside corner. …It worked, and she worked at it.

“She’s right up there.” I would call it elite.

After Rush scored on a one-out single in the top of the first inning, Ferri followed with an RBI triple over the right fielder’s head to help his own cause, giving the Bucs an early 1-0 lead. Ferri then allowed a leadoff single to Williams in the bottom of the first, but she quickly retired the next three batters she faced to strand Williams at first.

In the top of the second, Preuhs hit Seanna Riggle on the elbow to open the inning, then Emily Swarrow brought her home with an RBI single after Riggle stole second to give Chartiers a 2-0 lead -Houston. Rush then doubled to center to lead off the third before coming home to score on an RBI groundout by Taryne Drilak.

After Alderson inserted Randolph into the game as a pinch runner at third base, Randolph raced home to score on a wild pitch on the very next pitch, giving the Bucs a 4–0 lead midway through the third.

“I’ve always been fast,” Randolph said. “I guess the track helped a lot, with the timing. It comes naturally to me.

Williams led off the bottom of the third with another single for Union, but Ferri got Irelyn Fisher to ground into an inning-ending double play after a popout by Addie Nogay. Chartiers-Houston then added two more in the top of the fourth, as Richey scored Alana Palone with an RBI double to center before coming home to score on an error.

The Scotties finally got on the board after an error on a hard-hit grounder by Tori May, but the Bucs held a comfortable five-run cushion heading into the fifth.

Just when it looked like Chartiers-Houston was going to pull off a one-sided victory, Union rose from the canvas and showed the heart of a champion, recording four runs in the bottom of the fifth, three of them with two outs. After a costly two-out error by the Bucs, Gorgacz hit a two-run single followed by an RBI double from Benedict to cut the deficit to 6-5 heading into the sixth.

“We always like to come from behind. I don’t know why we’re doing this,” Fisher said. “It just didn’t happen this time.”

However, like any true champion, Chartiers-Houston held off the Scotties’ rally, then responded with some haymakers in the top of the sixth. After Richey hit Randolph with a single, Zaylee Fonner hit a two-out, two-run single to increase the Bucs’ lead to 9-5.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Richey said. “I think everyone got a little nervous (after the fifth inning), but I was pretty confident we would respond.”

Then, with a runner on first in the bottom of the seventh, Ferri recorded consecutive outs of Preuhs and Gorgacz to end the game and start the Bucs’ championship celebration in the infield.

“I just stayed calm and had confidence in my teammates behind me,” Ferri said. “I could see it from the way people were training: even this morning, coming here, everyone was ready. Everyone was hungry.

“I knew we could do it.”