NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster softball team finished its historic season as runner-up at the 2022 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament on Sunday.
Juniors
Leah Pancake (North Lima, OH / Beaver Local),
Brooke Atkins (New Castle, PA / Laurel), and
Alexis Yates (Oakdale, PA / South Fayette) all represented Westminster on the PAC All-Tournament Team.
"This is a great team," said head coach
Jan Reddinger. "From top to bottom, I have coached a lot of teams, this one is a team in all sense of the word. Hopefully the leadership will be passed down from year-to-year. This was a team, a team I believe they left it all out on the field today. They gave it their all. We can keep our heads up."
Westminster started the day with a PAC classic against Saint Vincent (24-10) in an elimination game. The Titans, down 4-0, heading into the bottom of the fourth, scored five runs in the fourth, including the go-ahead RBI-single off the bat of junior
Ashley Wire (Poland, OH / Poland Seminary). The Bearcats regained the lead in the fifth with a two-run home run, however, the Titans answered with a three-run fifth and led 8-6. The Bearcats threatened to tie the game in the seventh, however, arguably a top defensive play of the year by the Titans advanced Westminster to the PAC Championship game when a relay from Atkins to Yates to Pancake tagged out Leah Yoder at home for the third and final out of the game and Westminster won 8-7. Junior pitcher
Abbegail Froehlich (Pittsburgh, PA / Plum) improved to 2-0 on the season after only giving up one run in three innings of relief work.
The Championship game was scoreless through five innings. Waynesburg's (27-9) three runs came in the top of the sixth. Yates connected on an RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth. Later in the inning, the Titans had the tying run on second, however, were unable to score any more runs. The Yellow Jackets secured the PAC Championship, winning 3-1.
Westminster finished the successful season with a 31-6 overall record, its second-straight 30-win season for the first time in program history.
