The Abington Heights softball team poses with the runner up trophy at Penn State University.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Eva Kane, of Abington Heights, collects a ground ball and throws to first for the out.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Bri Bustos lays down a sacrifice bunt for the Lady Comets.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Lady Comets’ Riley McColligan takes an Adriana Condrad pitch.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Center fielder Bri Bustos and right fielder Avery Vanesky converge in the outfield.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
UNIVERSITY PARK — The state title hopes of the Abington Heights softball team began slipping away in an agonizingly slow, four-run second inning by Shaler.
The last four runs and the official conclusion came much more abruptly.
Haley Machajewski’s grand slam with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning ended the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 5A state final, cementing Shaler’s 10-0 victory over the Lady Comets June 11 at Penn State’s Beard Field.
The state title was the third for Shaler and spoiled the first state final appearance by Abington Heights.
The Comets threatened in the top of the second inning, but got in trouble in the bottom half.
Isabella DeRiggi’s leadoff single in the second wound up being the only hit the Lady Comets managed off Indiana University commit Bria Bosiljevac, who struck out eight and walked just one. DeRiggi was one of two runners left stranded in the inning and just three in the game.
Bosiljevac drew the first of six Abington Heights walks to begin the bottom of the second.
Two straight sacrifice bunt attempts instead produced infield singles to load the bases, and another walk opened the scoring before the Lady Comets could produce an out in the inning.
“They broke through,” Comets coach John Kelly said. “We made a couple mistakes and that’s all it takes in a game like this against a real good team.
“You make one or two mistakes, and they compound. We kind of had one really bad inning there.”
The Lady Titans were not done.
Another walk with two outs brought in the second run.
Two more scored on an infield error. On the play, a mild collision with a baserunner left second baseman Eva Kane stumbling backward. When Kane fell to the ground, the second run came in to make it 4-0.
The Lady Comets never recovered. They had just one base runner the rest of the way, on a two-out error in the fourth inning.
The loss ended a 20-game winning streak. The Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2 Class 5A champions finished 24-2.
“I’m super proud of these girls and this team,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t be any happier than to be their coach.
“They took me along for a great run.”
An offense that produced 22 runs in the first three rounds of the state tournament could not solve Bosiljevac.
“I think I threw a change-up just once,” said Bosiljevac, who mixed in three other pitches throughout to keep the Lady Comets off balance. “All my pitches were working today.”
The Titans added single runs in the third and fourth innings, then set up Machajewski when three batters walked earlier in the fifth inning.
“I was just hoping to get a solid base hit and maybe get an RBI there,” Machajewski said. “Off the bat, I knew. That was probably one of the best hits I had in my life.”
It did not take long for the Lady Comets, who lose just two senior starters and four players total who officially graduated later in the day, to find motivation in the loss.
“This is definitely going to be our goal next year,” junior pitcher Adrianna Condrad said of returning to Beard Field.
