The WPIAL Class AAAA softball championship game figures to play out as the timeless confrontation of the irresistible force and the immovable object.

The matchup, which is set for noon today at California University of Pennsylvania, features the juggernaut Shaler offense against the seemingly impenetrable combination of the Latrobe pitcher Alexa Bryson and the stalwart defense behind her.

"I think the bottom line comes down to their pitcher against our hitting," Titans coach Skip Palmer. "We do hit the ball well, and she's an outstanding pitcher. That's the bottom line."

The numbers overwhelming illustrate it.

• The Titans (16-4) have scored 96 runs in 20 games, an average of 4.8 per game. Shaler has scored at least five runs 10 times and scored at least eight runs six times.

• The Wildcats (18-2), meanwhile, have given up a total of eight runs all season.

• Shaler has not been shut out this season and has been held to one run only twice.

• Latrobe's opponents, on the other hand, managed more than one run only twice in 20 contests and were shut out 15 times.

"If we can keep their high-powered offense down, play good defense and pitch a good game, we have a good shot at winning," Latrobe coach Bob Kovalcin said. "If they hit the ball against us and we make some errors, it will be hard for us to beat them."

The Titans have hit an incredible .312 as a team this season. Their lineup includes several players who hit at least .300, including senior catcher Stevie Stanek. Other standouts in the Shaler lineup include seniors Becca Lynch, Erin Fieldhouse and Jenna Conrad, junior Megan Woods, sophomores Chelsea Siar, Holly Pefferman, Abby Nichter and Gina Goss and freshman Samantha Montoya.

"If you say to me, 'Who's our best hitter?' I'd tell you about the first six [in the lineup]," Palmer said. "A lot of teams have a solid four or five hitters, but I'm solid all the way down. We have nine kids who can hit the ball."

Latrobe obviously has at least nine who can catch it. Though Bryson was second in the WPIAL in strikeouts in the regular season with 222 -- she added 14 more in two postseason games -- the Wildcats also have a veteran team behind her that has fielded well.

"In past years we had a younger team, but Alexa's dominant pitching overcame that," Kovalcin said. "This year we've been a little more fundamentally sound on defense. That helps us out."

Kovalcin pointed out that Bryson "only" had eight strikeouts in a 1-0 win against Mt. Lebanon in the semifinals last week; that she got a no-hitter and shutout was also a credit to the defense.

"We're not as high-scoring as Shaler," Kovalcin said. "We let [Bryson] pitch and play good defense."

Still, as dominant as Bryson is, Shaler can answer with an elite pitcher of its own. Megan Daley is another senior with plenty of experience. She had an ERA of 1.18 in the regular season.

The game features arguably the two best programs in WPIAL Class AAAA the past few seasons. Shaler is playing in its third WPIAL title game in the past four seasons and has won two PIAA championships in the past four years, having played in three PIAA championship contests in that time.

Latrobe has been a WPIAL semifinalist in each of the past three seasons and is the defending champion and reigning PIAA runner-up.

"It's a very good test of wills between two good programs, two good teams," Kovalcin said. "We're happy to be here. It's been our goal since the beginning of the year to get back to this game. The girls want to win. They've worked hard for it."

By making the WPIAL final, each team has already qualified for the PIAA tournament that begins next week.