Allegany clinches 6th consecutive trip to states, defeats Northern 15-1 for region title

LAVALE — Allegany secured its sixth consecutive trip to the state tournament, defeating Northern 15-1 in five innings on Wednesday in the Class 1A West Region I final at Lions Field.

“It’s an awesome game, most complete game we’ve played all year,” Alco manager Dave Winner said. “We hit the ball great, pitched great, played great defense. Just proud of them, it was a great game.”

The top-seeded Campers (19-1) scored two in the first and fourth innings, five in the second and six in the third.

Alyssa Rader led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run to left center.

Of the first seven runs, only two were earned as the No. 2 Huskies (13-8) finished with five errors.

“Allegany came, and they were ready,” Northern skipper Kadi Cosgrove said. “They built off of our errors.”

Northern’s kryptonite this season against Allegany has been errors.

In the second matchup on April 9, the Huskies led 1-0 after six.

The Campers scored all four of its runs in the top of the seventh, three coming off a pair of miscues.

“I think they just put the ball in play more than what we did,” Cosgrove said. “We made errors whenever we shouldn’t have. I think that once we made a few errors, we were kind of down on ourselves. Had a hard time fighting back.”

Jordyn Sneathen (Saint Francis signee) struck out 12 against one hit.

Mykah Baker, Sadee Baker and Tyiss Jessie each drove in a pair of runs.

Savannah Walton led Alco at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a double and a run driven in.

Everyone in the Campers’ lineup had a hit totaling 13.

“Our kids were just mentally prepared,” Winner said. “We’ve been working all week on hitting and our hitting’s been better the last couple games. So it just came together today. The kids have been working hard, so they did good.”

Desi Hilton was the only batter who didn’t record an RBI but went 2 for 4.

Rain Ritchey produced the lone Husky hit, an RBI single in the third that deflected off a glove.

Northern’s season came to an end, along with the high school careers of Khloe Vitez, Bailey Champlin, Marisa Perez, Kylie Oxford and Demi Ross.

Ross is committed to Division II Lock Haven.

“They’re just such good kids,” Cosgrove said of the seniors. “Even outside of softball, they were great leaders and role models this entire season. All of them, all five of them.”

Allegany advances to the quarterfinals on either Friday or Saturday.

The Campers will be the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 South Carroll.

The Cavaliers (16-2) won the North Region II bracket, defeating Liberty 9-1.

“We appreciate it more than ever,” Winner said of returning to states. “You’ve got new kids coming through every year, so you definitely appreciate it. I never take it for granted.”