INDIANA – On Wednesday, the Anthracite/Towamensing 10-12 softball all-star team only surrendered a second-inning walk in their loss to Devon Stafford, Verwyn, Paoli Little League.

But on Friday evening, it was a different story in its second contest of the of the 2022 Little League Pennsylvania State Tournament.

West Surburban made the most of a number of free passes surrendered by Anthracite/Towamensing pitching to gain a 15-0 victory in the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament.

“It’s not a great feeling,” Anthracite/Towamening coach Tommy Goida said of having their season end. “But all in all, I couldn’t be any prouder of these girls, honestly. This is a great group of girls.

“We faced two great teams here. Real strong opponents.”

West Surburban stayed alive in the tourney by receiving 14 walks.

“We just put a lot of girls on base by walking them, which always comes back to hurt a team,” Goida said. “We gave up a lot of walks, and you just can’t do that. We put a couple of girls on, and then they would come up with a big hit to plate some runs.

“We just didn’t have our best pitching today, and that’s all on me. The girls hadn’t pitched in a month.”

While it was errors that hurt Anthracite/ Towamensing in the opener, it was three walks right off the bat that cost them early against West Surburban. With the bases loaded, West Surburban’s clean-up hitter Bella Kist unleashed a two-run single to give the visitors a quick 2-0 lead. Four more walks followed to help West Surburban up the margin to 5-0.

Lead-off hitter Danika Blazosky walked for Anthracite/Towamensing in the bottom of the first. However, Blazosky was soon caught trying to steal second base.

“Our lead-off hitter got on base via a walk and was thrown out stealing – that of course, comes from me,” Goida said. “The catcher made a great throw. That was the way we were playing all postseason long; we were running bases. So, we figured if we were down, we were going to go down playing hard.”

While Anthracite/Towamensing’s pitching settled down in the second (only surrendering a single walk), it was two errors that proved costly. West Surburban used the miscues, along with RBI singles from Bella Kist and Elle Ladika to open up a 9-0 advantage.

West Surburban pitcher Abby Rozich didn’t allow Anthracite/Towamensing to get back in the game, striking out the side in the second.

“It wasn’t a good one,” Goida said. “We had to go with three girls who haven’t pitched in about a month. So, we were behind the eight ball from the start.”

West Surburban put the game away in the third, plating six more runs.

Riley Lawless did manage to collect a hit for A/T in the third, and reached second before being stranded.

Despite the two losses in the tourney, Goida feels the program is heading in the right direction.

“Last year, we won districts and then lost in the sectionals,” Goida said. “This year, we won sectionals after winning districts and qualified for the State tournament. So, next year maybe we can take the next step in this process. Next year, we can go through Regionals.”

MULTIPLE HITS … Riley Zeglin of West Surburban finished with two hits and two runs.

MADE THEIR MARK … Brooklyn Mika, Liana Jones, Chloe Caffrey, Janessa Prudente, Megan O’Brien and Riley Lawless played their last game at this level, as the six players will be moving up to the 14/16 under level. When asked if they made an impact on those returning next season, Goida said, “Absolutely. Those girls carried us. They really did.”

SIMPLY PRICELESS … Goida said the three days spent together with his staff and Anthracite/Towamensing was a very valuable experience. “Of course, they’re going to remember how tough the games were,” he said. “But the memories from just being together, and those couple of days together as a team, were priceless.”

West Surburban 546 - 15 5 1

Anthracite/Towamensing 000 - 0 1 2

Zigmund, Rozich (2) and Kist; Kalman, Prudente (1), Mika (3) and Lawless. W - Zigmund. L - Kalman.