The softball team was coming off a tough playoff loss to the Penn Trafford Warriors that concluded their 2022 season, but the team got to work in the off-season and had high expectations for the 2023 season.

“Our expectations going into any season are always high, but we soon realized that this team had the potential to do some great things. Our motto was ‘Be better than yesterday.’ We knew that if we continued to improve each day, we would be a tough team to beat,” assistant softball coach Mr. Kevin Keenan said.

One thing that may have led to those expectations was the way the team came together as a group which created great team chemistry.

“The seniors let us in: the sophomores, juniors, and the freshmen. We all kind of formed a bond. We all got along because we all fit the same category characteristics and we all wanted to be there,” freshman pitcher Bria Bosiljevac said. “After every strikeout I had, after every play that my defense made behind me, we would just celebrate. And it wasn’t like a celebration that made us cocky. It was a celebration that showed that we are proud of ourselves and we would all come together as a group and we would celebrate,” Bosiljevac said.

This team chemistry combined with hard work played a huge role in a successful regular season for the Titans. The Titans posted an undefeated regular season and won the section title.

“You would probably think that we’d be pretty high (throughout the season), but we actually stayed really humble. And no matter what the score of the game, at practice the day after, we would work just as hard, if not harder,” Bosiljevac said.

The Titans entered the WPIAL Playoffs as one of the most feared teams in class 5A. Even though they did not lose a game, the Titans were still looking to prove some people wrong after being given the #2 seed.

“Playoff seedings are not something we can control, but they can definitely be used as motivation. I believe our players were upset that we were not the #1 seed, and looked to prove experts wrong,” Keenan said.

The Titans started strong in the WPIAL playoffs winning their first two games against Bethel Park and Franklin Regional. The Titans would face the Trinity Hillers for a spot in the WPIAL Finals and a guaranteed spot in the PIAA playoffs. Unfortunately, the Titans suffered their first loss of the year to the Hillers by the score of 5-4 in extra innings.

“Our loss to Trinity was definitely difficult because it was such a good game and our only loss up to that point. However, we quickly realized that it was the only playoff game a team could afford to lose since there was a third place consolation game. Our players regrouped over the next couple days, knowing the State Playoffs were still within reach,” Keenan said.

The loss to Trinity set up the Third-Place game against South Fayette. If the Titans won this game they would be the final team from the WPIAL to make it in the PIAA State Playoffs. If not, their season was over. Fortunately, the Titans pulled out a 2-1 victory to keep their season alive.

The Titans would have to take on District 6 Champion Central Mountain at their home field in the first-round.

“We had about a three-hour bus ride. We looked forward to it–that’s a part of the experience of playing in the state playoffs. As far as the game, we tried to find out all we could on our opponent. We discovered they had a very good pitcher who gave up very few runs all season and had tons of strikeouts, so we prepared for a low scoring, defensive struggle, which is exactly what happened,” Keenan said.

Both teams had a hard time putting runs up on the board. But with a strong defensive showing and a clutch home run by sophomore Emily Spears, the Titans pulled an upset win by a score of 2-1. The victory against Central Mountain set up a rematch of the WPIAL Semifinals against Trinity.

“We were very happy to get another shot at Trinity. The first game was so exciting, but we felt we did not play our best against them, especially early in the game. The second time around, we made a couple changes to our lineup, which I think affected Trinity’s game plans,”  Keenan said.

This time around, the game started in favor of the Titans. Shaler jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never looked back. The Titans would go on to win the game by a score of 5-1 to advance to the PIAA Semifinals. Their opponent: the team that got #1 seed in the WPIAL Playoffs, the Armstrong Riverhawks.

“Personally, my favorite part of the playoff run was beating Armstrong in the state semifinals. They were a team that got a lot of attention for scoring a lot of runs during the regular season and were the #1 seed going into the WPIAL Playoffs. They were a good team, but I always felt that we were better, so it was very satisfying when we defeated them,” Keenan said.

The 8-5 victory over Armstrong clinched the Titans a spot in the PIAA championship game against the Northern York Polar Bears.

The morning of the finals the Titans took off early for the long trip up to Penn State. Before they left, the Titans were sent off with a gathering from people within the Shaler community to wish them good luck.

The game was one of the closest games of the year for the Titans. The game ended up going into the 9th inning tied 2-2. Unfortunately, Northern York came up with a clutch hit in the 9th inning which brought home the game winning run for the Polar Bears. Despite the disappointing outcome, this game was not going to define a season where the girls only lost two games.

“What I will remember most of all was the team. The effort our players gave throughout the entire season all led to this one game. Although we fell one run short, our Titans did not disappoint,” Keenan said.

The support and encouragement the team, as well as the baseball and volleyball teams, gave and received throughout their runs was amazing.

“Having the volleyball, baseball, and softball teams all making these incredible runs at the same time was amazing.  Quite honestly, it would have been nearly impossible for each team to not support one another.  Each team was experiencing the same emotions as the others.  At one point, I remember our players being almost more interested in what was happening in the baseball game while sitting in the dugout as our own game was being played,” Keenan said.

The whole “Week at Happy Valley” came to a conclusion with a celebration for all three teams at the high school. The celebration started with a parade for all three teams through the high school campus and finished with a ceremony where each team talked about their seasons and introduced every player from each of the three teams.

“The Parade of Champions held at the high school was really cool because it was a chance for people who may have only followed one team to show their support for all three,” Keenan said.