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H.S. Softball: Pittston Area defeats Lake-Lehman in battle of division champions

john erzar, the times leader, wilkes-barre, pa.
·4 min read

May 12—LEHMAN TWP. — A pair of Wyoming Valley Conference divisional softball champions squared off Saturday morning. So did one of the state's best pitchers against one of the state's best hitters.

Turns out it was the pitcher who also starred at the plate.

Pittston Area's Gianna Adams struck out 14, allowed one hit and had two of her team's three hits in a 4-1 victory over Lake-Lehman.

Division 1 champion Pittston Area (15-0) remained the only unbeaten team in District 2 and all but locked up the top seed in the District 2 Class 5A playoffs. Division 2 champion Lehman (15-2) had its 10-game winning streak snapped and now must hold off Mid Valley for the top seed in the D2-3A playoffs.

Adams came into the game with a 0.27 ERA and nearly 700 career strikeouts. She was clocked in warmups at 66 mph, the equivalent of a baseball pitcher throwing 95 mph. She won two of her three battles with Lehman's Kirsten Finarelli, a Penn State commit. Finarelli had an RBI double in the fourth to score Gracie Bucknavage with the Black Knights' only run.

"It was great when we played them last year and it was great when we played them this year," Adams said. "We've been on this nice complex before and we knew what to expect. We were prepared to come and play hard, but (Finarelli) did great. She really did."

After Finarelli's double, Adams retired 11 in a row and nine via strikeout. Kaitlyn Brudnicki flied out in the second inning, the only other time Lehman hit the ball out of the infield.

"This is the kind of game you want going into playoffs," Lehman coach Nicole Chipego said. "I don't think we're going to see another pitcher of Gianna's caliber. She did great today. As a matter of fact, I think there were some pitches she threw that were strikes that weren't called strikes."

Pittston Area scored all its runs in the first inning. Adams led off with a triple to right and Gabby Roman followed with a walk. An out later Marina Antal and Sam Herbert drew consecutive walks to force in a run. After Roman scored on a wild pitch, Tori Stephenson singled in two runs.

"It was a change-up and it was inside," Stephenson said. "I was ready for it. I was ready for the fast one, but you have to be ready for the change-up."

The Patriots had only one hit over the final six innings, an infield single by Adams in the fourth. They hit only three balls out of the infield in that span against Lehman's Hannah Chipego, who finished with 10 strikeouts.

"We had another really good inning and nothing again the rest of the game," Pittston Area coach Frank Parente said. "That's something we have to fix. Three games where it was playoff atmosphere where we had one inning and nothing after it."

Pittston Area 4, Lake-Lehman 1

Pittston Area'AB'R'H'BI

Adams p'4'0'2'0

Ta.Stephenson cr'0'1'0'0

Roman rf'3'1'0'0

Mehal dp'3'0'0'0

Antal lf'3'1'0'0

Herbert ss'0'1'0'0

Grozkowski 1b'3'0'0'0

To.Stephenson 3b'3'0'1'2

Long 2b'3'0'0'0

Hintze cf'3'0'0'0

Cocco c/fx'0'0'0'0

Totals'25'4'3'3

Lake-Lehman'AB'R'H'BI

Bucknavage cf'2'1'0'0

Chipego p'3'0'0'0

Finarelli c'3'0'1'1

Brudnicki ss'3'0'0'0

Honeywell 2b'3'0'0'0

Wallace lf'2'0'0'0

James rf'2'0'0'0

Yusko 1b'2'0'0'0

Makarewicz 3b'2'0'0'0

Totals'22'1'1'1

Pittston Area'400'000'0 — 4

Lake-Lehman'000'100'0 — 1

2B — Finarelli. 3B — Adams.

Pittston Area'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO

Adams (W)'7'1'1'1'0'14

Lake-Lehman'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO

Chipego (L)'7'3'4'4'5'10