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B4 — The Sentinel at www.cumberlink.com SportS Friday • June 15, 2012

Big SpringBulldogs

(23-4) Newville, Pa.

District 3Mid-Penn Colonial

Regular SeasonMarch

23 vs. Boiling Springs W 1-026 vs. Shippensburg L 9-728 @ Gettysburg W 3-030 vs. Northern L 4-3

April2 @ West Perry W 10-03 @ James Buchanan W 10-05 vs. Waynesboro W 3-010 vs. Greencastle W 6-511 @ Red Land W 12-516 @ Shippensburg W 6-318 vs. Gettysburg W 5-120 @ Northern W 6-421 @ Bermudian Springs W 12-725 @ Waynesboro W 10-626 vs. James Buchanan W 14-227 @ Greencastle L 5-128 Bulldog ClassicQuarterfinal vs. East Pennsboro W 5-1Semifinal vs. Kennard Dale W 3-1Final vs. Chambersburg W 12-11

May9 @ Lower Dauphin W 4-2

District 3 PlayoffsFirst Round vs. No. 20 Susquehannock W 6-2Quarterfinal vs. No. 9 Boiling Springs W 2-0Semifinal vs. No. 5 Greencastle L 7-0Third-place vs. No. 2 Northern W 10-2

PIAA PlayoffsFirst Round vs. Bellefonte W 1-0Quarterfinal vs. Ft. LeBoeuf W 2-1Semifinal vs. Montour W 5-0

Head Coach: Steve Calaman

LineupNo.-Name Position Statistics1 - Calli Pastor Pitcher .407, 32 runs18-Brooke Sullivan Right Field .295, 24 runs44-Ashley Baker Catcher .443, 11 HRs22-Morgan Paynter Shortstop .321, 7 HRs33-Kayla Smith DP .278, 17 RBIs21-Taylor Mansfield First Base .215, 4 HRs16-Tiffany Dearth Center Field .327, 9 runs26-Brittany Wagner Third Base .241, 2 HRs15-Ashley Shenk Left Field .115, 6 runs20-Billie Jean Wright 2B/Flex .114, 9 runs

2-Emma Hergenroeder10-Kelsey Kann14-Kelsi Minich32-Kenicia Gettle

Pitching Record ERA SO BAA

Calli Pastor 14-3 1.78 176 .172Taylor Mansfield 5-1 1.72 48 .224Kelsey Kann 4-0 0.93 20 .189

How Big Spring got here: The Bulldogs fin-ished the regualr season with a 17-3 record, good for second in the Mid-Penn Colonial Division. They earned the No. 1 seed in the District 3 Class AAA tournament. The Bull-dogs qualified for states with a win over No. 2 Northen in the third-place game.In the PIAA playoffs, Big Spring beat Belle-fonte and Ft. Leboeuf to advance to the semi-finals.On Monday, Calli Pastor was lights out for the Bulldogs. She allowed just one baserunner through the first six innings, shutting Mon-tour out in the Bulldogs 5-0 victory.

Why Big Spring can win: Ever since the Bulldogs lost to Greencastle in the District 3 semifinals, they have kicked it up a notch. They haven’t scored a ton, but they’re not giving anything up. Pastor and Mansfield have shut down opposing hitters throughout the state playoffs, allowing just a single run in three games. If they can come out with the same intensity they have shown all year and push across just a few runs, that could be all they need for the team’s first state champi-onship in school history.

Valley ViewCougars

(20-0)Archbald, Pa.

District 2Lackawanna Division II

Regular SeasonApril

3 @ Lakeland W 1-04 @ Carbondale W 13-010 vs. Dunmore W 12-212 @ Mid Valley W 10-016 @ Old Forge W 8-118 vs. Riverside W 10-025 vs. Holy Cross W 11-130 @ Carbondale W 6-1

May1 vs. Lakeland W 10-03 @ Dunmore W 4-37 vs. Mid Valley W 12-010 vs. Old Forge W 6-016 @ Holy Cross W 8-017 @ Riverside W 9-0

District 2 PlayoffsQuarterfinal vs. No. 9 Scranton Prep W 10-0Semifinal vs. No. 12 Holy Redeemer W 10-1Final vs. No. 2 Wyoming Area W 6-1

PIAA PlayoffsFirst Round vs. Milton W 2-0Quarterfinal vs. Sun Valley W 5-1Semifinal vs. Manheim Central W 1-0

Head Coach: E.J. Weston

LineupNo.-Name Position Statistics3 - Elizabeth Aniska Shortstop .417, 30 runs12-Casey Pearce Third Base .455, 22 runs15-MollyAnn Mecca Second Base .373, 27 RBIs23-Anna McElroy Catcher .397, 22 RBIs5 - Sara Miraglia First Base .323, 14 RBIs32-Blayse Cholish Right Field .346, 17 RBIs28-Gina Coccetti Left Field .232, 11 runs21-Lea Wojciechowski DP .320, 11 runs4 - Emma Thomson Center Field .348, 13 runs9 - Gina Chieffalo Pitcher

2 - Kelly MeccaMorgan CaselliElayna FazioBrittney Mecca

Pitching Record ERA SO

Gina Chieffallo 20-0 0.34 157

How Valley View got here: The Cougars finished the regular season 14-0, winning the Lackawanna Division II. They earned the top seed in the District 2 Class AAA playoffs and won the tournament, beating Scranton Prep, Holy Redeemer and Wyoming Area.In the PIAA playoffs, Valley View beat Milton and Sun Valley to advance to the semifinals.On Monday, Valley View entered the bottom of the sixth with the score still tied 0-0. Gina Coccetti hit an infield pop up that fell in, scor-ing the lone run of the game, sending the Cougars to the final with a 1-0 win.

Why Valley View can win: The undefeated record speaks for itself – the Cougars have never even trailed at any point in the season. They have become very familiar with win-ning, thanks in large part to their pitcher, Gina Chieffalo. A 0.34 ERA shows that runs are pretty tough to come by when she’s in the circle, which has been every inning. In a game with some stellar pitching on both ends, the Cougars will need more of the same from Chieffallo to go along with some timely hitting they have seen from their offense all season. If they can get that, Valley View could complete the perfect season.

PIAA Softball

“It’s almost like everything is just falling in place for us.

Going back (to PSU) again Friday, they

already know what’s there and can just

play our game.”

Steve CalamanBIG SPRING HEAD COACH

“To be 20-0, you’re going to need

different girls to step up at different times,

but what it mostly comes down to is the

consistency we’ve shown over the year.”

e.J. weStonVALLEy VIEW HEAD COACH

Historic showdownBig Spring looks to

finish off its first run in the PIAA playoffs with a state championship.By CHRISTOPHER HOPkINSSENTINEL REPORTERchopkins@cumberlink.com

When Big Spring and Val-ley View take the field today at Penn State for the PIAA Class AAA Softball Championship final, both teams will be look-ing to make history, but to a different extent.

The Bulldogs will be at-tempting to take home the first state title in team history. This season, they have already reached the state playoffs for the first time, but have made it no secret they are not satisfied with just that.

“We really want it. It hasn’t hit me yet that we’re going to the finals, but this was our dream and we’re making it come true,” Bulldogs pitcher Calli Pastor said Monday after Big Spring defeated Montour to advance to the final. “Why not make school history with being the first to get into states, let’s just go the whole way.”

For the Cougars, they will be attempting to complete a per-fect season. To this point, they have run off an unblemished 20-0 record. A victory today will give them win No. 21 and complete that historic season teams dream about.

“The key has been consis-tency,” Valley View head coach E.J. Weston said. “We’ve been playing all facets of the game. We’ve had solid defense, we’re hitting the ball when we need to and our pitching has been really good.”

This final will feature two teams that come in as evenly matched as it could get. Both teams have given up just a sin-gle run through their first three state playoff games, while scoring eight runs themselves. While both teams feature very strong lineups, it’s been pitch-ing that has got them this far.

Here are a few things to watch out for in the Class AAA state championship:

key playersBig Spring

Calli Pastor (P) – Pas-tor has been lights out for the Bulldogs for most of their run to the final. She’s allowed just one run in 19 1/3 innings against three district cham-pions. While she won’t admit it, Pastor is at the top of her game right now, throwing two of her best games this season in the state playoffs.

Ashley Baker (C) – Don’t be fooled by Baker having just one hit through the first three games. Pitchers are just not throwing her anything to hit. The Bulldogs catcher has shown all season that she can hit the ball and hit it far. If she gets her pitch to hit, she could

■

make the difference.Taylor Mansfield (1B)

– Mansfield has done it all for the Bulldogs this postseason. It was her pitching that got them into the PIAA tourna-ment against Northern. It has her RBI double that sent them past Bellefonte in the first round. Then, in the quarter-finals, Mansfield pitched and escaped a big jam in the sixth to preserve the Bulldogs’ lead. Look for her to help the Bull-dogs on both sides of the ball when needed.

Valley ViewGina Chieffallo (P) –

Chieffallo has thrown every inning of every game for the Cougars this season and for good reason. The junior has posted a microscopic 0.34 ERA through 20 games, sur-rendering two or more runs in a game just twice. Like the Bulldogs, she’s given up just one run through the first three state games.

Elizabeth Aniska (SS) – The Cougars’ leadoff hit-ter has done it all for them of-fensively. Aniska enters today hitting .417 with 30 runs, 20 RBIs and four home runs. It will be a lot of fun to see how the Pastor/Aniska matchups play out.

MollyAnn Mecca (2B)

– Mecca has provided power for the Cougars from the three hole all season long. The sec-ond baseman is hitting .373 with 27 RBIs and two home runs.

BreakdownWhile both teams posses a

lineup that has put up some pretty immense numbers throughout the season, this game is going to feature some of the best pitching around. Both Pastor and Chieffallo are at the top of their games right now and there is no reason to believe we’ll see anything dif-ferent today. While coach Cal-aman has surprised us before throwing Mansfield from the start, it’s probably safe to say Pastor will get the nod here, with Mansfield ready when needed. This game is going to come down to one break for either team. It’s going to be low scoring, so one big hit or one mistake in the field could be all that is needed to sepa-rate these two teams.

The Bulldogs lineup has shown all season that they have the talent to put up eight to ten runs a game, but they haven’t had as much pro-duction through the playoffs – which is also a result of the opposing pitching getting better. While they may not put up that same production, in the final, the Big Spring has shown that they can still get the big hits when it counts.

With the numbers so evenly matched and two of the top pitchers being featured, it should be a classic, one-run thriller between these two. Look for this one to come down to the wire.

PredictionBig Spring 2, Valley View 1

Jason Malmont/The Sentinel

Big Spring celebrates its semifinal win over montour monday. the Bulldogs take on the District 2 champion, valley view, today in the PIaa Class aaa final at Beard Field at Penn State University.

Jason Malmont/The Sentinel

Calli Pastor rounds first after hitting a triple to the right field-fence in the first inning of monday’s PIaa Class aaa semifinal game against montour.

online coverage today

Sentinel sports writers Chris Hopkins and Bill Landis will provide a live blog, podcast and video coverage from today’s 12:30 p.m. game in State College. Check out their work at www.cumberlink.com, including a video preview of today’s matchup with Valley View.

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