When North Hills and North Allegheny meet in softball, it usually comes down to the final out or even extra innings.

Last year, the Indians were on the wrong end of a 3-0 and a 2-0 extra-inning decisions at the end of the season that kept them out of the playoffs and put North Allegheny in.

North Hills hopes the roles are reversed this year after a 4-3 victory against the Tigers April 10 helped vault the Indians near the top of a jumbled race for first in Section 3-AAAA.

Through Tuesday, Seneca Valley (11-3, 7-2), Shaler Area (11-3, 6-3), Pine-Richland (7-7, 4-4) and North Allegheny (6-7, 5-4) were all in playoff contention as well as North Hills (5-4, 5-3).

"Our section is very tough and it always has been from top to bottom," North Hills coach Dana Pecanis said.

"That was a tough loss at the end of the year [against North Allegheny]. We always tend to go extra innings with NA and the girls came back from it this year and they won that game and some other big ones."

North Hills opened section play with a loss at Fox Chapel but bounced back with big wins against Shaler and at Seneca Valley. After a 3-2 loss to Butler, the Indians won at Pine-Richland and then beat North Allegheny and Fox Chapel. The Indians play host to Seneca Valley at 4 p.m. today in a game that will influence the section lead.

Pecanis, a former pitcher, attended North Hills in the late 1990s and later played for Washington & Jefferson College. She helped North Hills win a WPIAL title in 2000 but the Indians have only been to the playoffs twice since.

The biggest holes to fill coming into this season for Pecanis were at shortstop, pitcher and catcher.

"With the three seniors we lost [from last year], there were big holes at those positions. In the offseason we focused on filling those positions and spent a lot of time working on our hitting."

Junior Rachel VanAtta has stepped up at pitcher to fill in for Louanne Wiegand, last year's starter who graduated. She has pitched all but one section game this year for the Indians and threw a no-hitter against Fox Chapel in a 10-0 victory.

VanAtta previously played in center field while Wiegand was pitching. Stefanie Wiegand, Louanne's younger sister, is a junior in her third year on the varsity. She starts at shortstop, filling in for Megan Hollyfield who graduated. Wiegand previously played second base as a freshman and sophomore.

Senior Nicole Tschannen, a four-year starter, moves behind the plate this year from first base to take over for Kelly Cummings, another senior who graduated. Tschannen is one of the team's co-captains and accounted for all of North Hills' runs against Seneca Valley with a grand slam in the 4-3 win.

"They have played good ball overall so far," Pecanis said. "Rachel is pitching very well and Nicole is doing a great job behind the plate."

Senior Ally Gross also does some pitching and sometimes serves as the designated hitter. Senior Katie Reed, the other co-captain, starts at third. Senior Mallory Klein is the starter in right field and her sister, Julia, a sophomore, is in center.

Pecanis brought up freshman Jess Rectenwald to start in left field. Junior Kristen Gumpf also sees time in the outfield as does Kate Murgi at first base.

"We are going to have to keep hitting," Pecanis said.

"That is the big thing for us this year. If they can hit like they have been hitting, we'll be all right.

"We are just trying to take it one game at a time. I try to tell the team to look at the next game and just that one. We have some big games coming up."