Shaler Area pitcher Bri Dobson did something almost unfathomable – for her, at least – in the first inning of a showdown against rival North Allegheny last week.
She gave up a run.
No worries. When Dobson got her chance at the plate in the bottom of the inning, she blasted a two-run home run and then went on to stifle North Allegheny hitters to lead Shaler to a 2-1 win.
Dobson is having an outstanding season for a Shaler team that is among the best in Class AAAA. The Titans, ranked No. 2 by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, were 11-0 overall and 8-0 in Section 3 heading into Thursday’s game against Brashear.
Few WPIAL players have been in the same class as Dobson, a senior who is batting .514 with six home runs and 24 RBIs, while going 11-0 on the mound with a 0.90 ERA and 63 strikeouts.
“She’s the complete package,” Shaler coach Skip Palmer said. “She’s a senior and she’s been doing a great job. Everything has fallen into place like we wanted it to. We couldn’t ask for much more.”
Dobson helped Shaler win a WPIAL title her sophomore season and guided the Titans to the semifinals last season. A long playoff run could be in the cards again, with defending champion Hempfield, North Allegheny and Canon-McMillan posing the biggest competition. Shaler’s win against North Allegheny snapped the Tigers’ 18-game section winning streak.
Yough
If you drove past Yough High School April 15 and felt a stiff breeze, Macy Mularski likely had something to do with it.
Mularski put on a performance that hasn’t been matched very often over the years, fanning batter after batter to the tune of 20 strikeouts in a 7-1 win against Greensburg Salem. Mularski got an out via a pop up in the second inning, but each of the other outs was recorded by strikeout. She took a no-hitter into the seventh, but gave up a home run to Maggie Kallock with two outs before ending the game with her 20th strikeout.
“It was a great game and she was on it,” Yough coach Dutch Harvey said.
Mularski then struck out 18 in a 1-0, 10-inning loss to Belle Vernon Monday, giving her 38 strikeouts in two games. A senior, Mularski was 7-1 with 99 strikeouts entering Wednesday’s action.
Moon
Pitchers dream of no-hitters. Hitters aspire to hit for the cycle.
Moon sophomore Alyssa Sisko did them both last week – in the same game.
Sisko had herself a game in Moon’s 12-0 victory at Brashear April 14, hurling a no-hitter and hitting for the cycle. Sisko singled, doubled, tripled and homered while driving in four runs.
This “Sisko kid” has been tearing the cover off the ball for Moon, which is contending for a playoff spot in Class AAAA Section 3 despite not having any seniors. Heading into the week, Sisko was hitting .667 (18 for 27) with 10 RBIs and 15 runs scored. She was also 3-1 on the mound.
Belle Vernon
Defending WPIAL Class AAA champion Belle Vernon has lost four games this season, the result of those contests all coming by 1-0 scores.
The Leopards were 4-0 in games decided by one run last season and were shut out just twice on their way to a 21-3 record. Runs have been a little tougher to come by this season, and the team has dropped four of its five one-run games.
Having sophomore Bailey Parshall on the mound surely helps and her excellent work has the Leopards looking like a WPIAL title contender. Parshall struck out 18 to help the Leopards slip past Yough Monday. It was a rematch of last year’s WPIAL final.
Parshall had struck out 142 in 89 innings after Monday’s result.
First Published: April 22, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
