Lady Comets, Avary Brister, connects with the ball for a grand slam during play at Valley View.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Judy Riff, of Abington Heights, collects a flyout at shortstop for the Lady Comets.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Lady Comets, Avery Vanesky, bumps fists with coach Tom Kelly, as she rounds third base following her first varsity homerun.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Eva Kane, of Abington Heights, watches as she hits her first varsity homerun.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
The Abington Heights softball team has not just been winning; it has been dominating. It has been destroying the competition.
When the Lady Comets won a pair of games in New York state on May 2, they ran their winning streak to nine games and their shutout streaks to six games and 31 innings.
Abington Heights suffered its only loss 6-4 in a non-league game at Loyalsock Township April 11. Through games of May 3, the Lady Comets were 9-0 in league play, 1½ games in front of North Pocono for the Lackawanna League Division 1 lead, and 14-1 overall to lead the same opponent in the six-team race for the top seed in the District 2-4 Class 5A Subregional playoffs.
North Pocono was the last team to score on Abington Heights and the last to take the Lady Comets to the full seven innings.
Abington Heights won their April 21 meeting with a 14-4 road victory behind six runs in the fifth inning, then three more over the final two.
Avary Brister, the team’s season offensive leader, powered that victory. She had two home runs, a double and a single while driving in five runs and scoring three.
Winning pitcher Adrianna Condrad added three hits, including a double, and three RBIs. Leadoff hitter Eva Kane had three hits and scored four times.
Since then, Abington Heights has outscored opponents 77-0, ending all six games early on the Mercy Rule, including a 15-0 victory over Scranton that took just three innings. They beat defending state Class 4A champion Valley View 12-0 in the only game that extended beyond the fifth inning.
The Cougars took Abington Heights six innings, but never managed a hit.
In addition to her no-hitter and six strikeouts, Condrad went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and drove in four runs.
Valley View had also given Abington Heights its closest league game back in the division opener in which the Lady Comets prevailed 6-0 March 31 behind Condrad’s 10-strikeout, three-hitter.
Abington Heights has won its nine division games by a combined margin of 116-10.
The six Lady Comets with the most at-bats are all hitting better than .300, with Brister putting up outrageous offensive numbers.
Brister is hitting .660 with team-highs of 34 RBIs, 30 runs scored, 10 doubles and seven home runs.
Condrad is batting .469 with four home runs and 25 RBIs. She is 10-1 with a 1.66 earned run average and a 97-32 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 63 1/3 innings.
Sophomore Brianna Bustos has been effective in her time in the circle, going 4-0 with a 0.85 ERA. She has allowed just seven hits and seven walks while striking out 39 in 24 2/3 innings.
