It’s District 9 softball playoff time with a full slate of games on tap for Monday.
As we get ready for the postseason, let’s take a look at five pressing questions entering the postseason.
5. What do we know about Curwensville, the top seed in Class 2A? The Lady Tide made a huge jump in the final week of the season from being the fourth seed to being the top seed. Many in D9 don’t really know much about Curwensville since it plays in the District 6 ICC, but they should. Curwensville has the best pitcher in the bracket in freshman Addison Siple, who is on a very short list for Rookie of the Year. Siple checks in with a 1.24 ERA and has struck out 223 while walking just 39 in 113.1 innings of work. She has had to be great, as Curwensville’s offense has struggled at times scoring three or fewer runs eight times in 19 outings.
4. Is anyone going to keep us from an Elk County Catholic/DuBois Central Catholic matchup in the 1A title game? Otto-Eldred might but after that no. While teams like Redbank Valley and A-C Valley/Union have been great stories this year, neither has the pitching pedigree to stop the two catholic schools from meeting in the title game. Otto-Eldred has the athletes – I mean Katie Sheeler might be the best overall athlete in District 9 – and the Lady Terrors 6-2 loss to ECC was a mistake-filled game. So beating the Lady Crusaders in the semifinals wouldn’t be a total shock. At the same time, I have felt since late March that ECC and DCC were the two best teams in 1A in D9. There is no reason to start doubting myself now.
3. How good is DuBois? In a district with two other great teams – St. Marys and DuBois Central Catholic – DuBois was the best of the bunch in the regular season with wins over both of those squads. But the Lady Beavers are also a Class 5A school and have perhaps as tough a task as anyone just to get to the PIAA tournament with a very good Central Mountain team in the way. A year ago, DuBois has a lead late in a subregional game against the Wildcats and blew it late. Central Mountain went on to the second round of the PIAA tournament where it lost to PIAA runner-up Armstrong. That easily could have been DuBois. This year, with the way Ava Barnonick is pitching, the Lady Beavers could make that run. It would be a huge lift if superstar center fielder Morgan Pasternak can return for the postseason run. Pasternak has missed the last couple of games with an arm injury but is expected to be able to go sooner rather than later.
2. Can St. Marys duplicate what Clearfield did last year in 4A and win a state title? It’s hard to predict what will happen if the Lady Dutch get past Clearfield in the D9 title game and then win a subregional game to enter the PIAA bracket. After all, we have never actually seen St. Marys in the PIAA playoffs with this current group because Clearfield kept getting in the way. The Lady Dutch may have been a Top 5 team in the state a year ago but never had the chance to play a game to find out. This much I know, they have all the pieces. It starts with senior pitcher Kendall Young, who is headed to IUP to pitch. Young has over 500 career strikeouts in three years, and she is the exact type of workhorse that can lift a team to great heights. She isn’t alone, though, as the St. Marys lineup is deep one through nine, arguably deeper than Clearfield’s a year ago. All that said, it takes luck to win a state title as well. Clearfield became the walk-off queens a year ago getting the bounces when they were needed.
1. Is this finally the year DuBois Central Catholic is the bride and not the bridesmaid? They sure hope so in DuBois, and there are reasons to believe that could be the case. The Lady Cardinals are battle tested with their only losses coming against 6A State College, 5A DuBois, and 4A St. Marys. They also have some very good wins against the likes of Punxsutawney, Glendale, and Wellsville (N.Y.) to name three. DCC has the offense and the pitching to make a long run. The one thing that concerns me is the defense. In its losses, the Lady Cardinals have had some miscues in the field that have really cost them, and in a one-and-down playoff situation, especially in a tough central/eastern bracket in the PIAA playoffs (yes DCC goes through the eastern bracket this year) one bad defensive play can sabotage an otherwise great season. Yet, this is a team that looks like it is on a mission to return to State College for the second straight year and this time bring home gold.
