Williamsport’s softball players accomplished goal of winning districts

Consider that, mission accomplished.

The work continues and the state tournament starts Monday, but Williamsport is District 2-4 Class 6A best team. Again.

Bailey Livermore threw another gem, Emma Vollman went 3 for 3 and Williamsport turned an early two-run deficit into an 8-3 win Tuesday at Wilkes University, capturing a second straight district championship and defeating Wilkes-Barre, 8-3.

“It’s terrific. We have the girls write out their goals and then ask them, ‘How do we make that happen?’” first-year Williamsport coach Scott Stugart said. “It doesn’t just happen. You have to make it happen.”

JASON ARDAN/Special to the Sun-Gazette
Williamsport’s Brenna Beck cheers after scoring in the
District 2-4 Class 6A
championship game at
Wilkes against
Wilkes-Barre Area.

Williamsport has done that in impressive fashion. The Millionaires (17-5) now have two championships which drive home that point, securing both HAC-I and district titles. They also have made massive strides throughout the season, winning eight straight games and 12 of their last 13 entering Monday’s home game against either Central Dauphin or Wilson.

Williamsport staying atop the district throne is validation that all its hard work has paid off. Leading up to the championship, six players stayed after practice, asking for extra hitting time. It has been a recurring them throughout the year with so many players putting in extra hours and, at the perfect time, all that work has created something special.

“For them to work hard and get stronger and get better as the season goes on has been exciting. You could just see it building up and getting more real,” Stugart said. “The goals were getting closer and you could just seem them ramping it up.”

Williamsport faced several challenges entering the season, graduating some key players, welcoming a new coaching staff and facing an arduous schedule. Inclement early-season weather also made Williamsport the final area softball team to play a game.

Still, the Millionaires started strong, opening 3-0 and handing fellow district champion Central Mountain its lone loss this season. But after winning their opener at the Williamsport Tournament they were routed there by Montoursville and Mifflinburg, being outscored, 29-2.

PHOTO
PROVIDED
Williamsport players celebrate after winning the District 2-4 Class 6A championship on Tuesday.

It was the kind of setback which could have rattled a team and/or short-circuited what looked like a promising season. Instead, Williamsport used it as fuel, regrouped, refocused and rallied around each other. Since those games, the Millionaires are 14-2 with excellent wins against teams like Bald Eagle Area, Jersey Shore (twice), Holy Redeemer, Loyalsock and Wilkes-Barre. It’s not the fall that measures a team, but how it responds and this team did so like champions.

“It was really an eye opener at the Williamsport Tournament, but it did set us straight a little bit. It focused us and got us looking at things we needed to work on and get better at not just skill-wise but as far as confidence and energy and so forth,” Stugart said. “They turned it around. We really like how they’re interacting and playing hard and energized. That’s what you want.”

Williamsport has been attacking practices and games not as individuals, but as one unit. That has played a vital role in the team often progressing throughout games, whether trailing early, tied or leading. The Millionaires have shown a knack for coming alive against strong pitchers as games continue and scored eight of the game’s final nine runs Tuesday after Wilkes-Barre had gone up, 2-0.

The players have talent and drive, but they also have an added key ingredient–short memories. That ability to focus on the task at hand no matter the circumstance has helped Williamsport make a six-win improvement from last season.

“You don’t see a change in their demeanor at all. One of the the themes they’re probably used to hearing from me throughout the season is winning the inning, and after they scored those two runs in the top of the first we answered and scored three in the bottom half,” Stugart said. “That probably wouldn’t have happened during the earlier part of the season, but we’ve seen it in second half of season that they don’t let anything faze them. They know what they can do and they go out there and attack.”

It’s never been just one or two players doing the lifting either. It has been players throughout the order and off the bench. Every starter produced a hit during the two district playoff games and has proven herself a threat in the lineup all season, while Kate Solomon came off the bench earlier in the year to smash a walk-off home run against Shikellamy.

Tuesday, Vollman went 3 for 3 with two doubles, while Brenna Beck was 2 for 4 with three RBIs. In a late-season win against Jersey Shore, Kinsley Cannode nearly hit for the cycle, against Wilkes-Barre, Zaelana Minor hit a go-ahead two-run double and in the semifinals against West Scranton, Chelsey Harrison, Isabella Reddy and Emily McAnelly all helped break things open.

So, even if one player is having an off day, there often has been someone else having a good day. Regardless of who that it is, players are believing in and trusting in whoever is up and that has made a big difference.

“There’s not one person in our lineup that is down,” Ashlyn Robinson said after going 3 for 4 with three RBIs in a HAC-I championship clinching win against Selinsgrove. “If someone doesn’t get a hit than they cheer for the next person to get a hit and it goes right down the line.”

Right down that line are players who have helped make this season a fantastic one. The two championships highlight it, but not all the goals are yet fulfilled.

Williamsport is the district’s best team and now it goes against the state’s best teams. It’s another opportunity to not just pursue those goals written before games even started, but to enjoy the fruits of their labor because opportunities like these are the rewards.

Whatever happens, Williamsport players and coaches will not forget the feeling they experienced Tuesday when they celebrated on the field and secured a coveted district championship. That is something which will forever link this group.

“We talked to the team about being a part of something bigger and leaving their mark and how special it is to the community and school and the families to continue to go for it,” Stugart said. “Somebody has to win, so ‘Why not us?’ They’ve climbed two rungs up the ladder and we were excited at that (district championship) moment and we’re excited to continue this great journey and try and make the most of it.”