UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Since the beginning of the season, Neshannock seemed like a team destined for greatness.
It doesn’t get much greater than what the Lancers accomplished on Friday afternoon.
With a 4-1 win vs. District 12 champion Conwell-Egan (16-6), the Lancers (26-0) became only the sixth team in WPIAL history to win a PIAA title with a perfect record. It is the second year in a row a WPIAL team has accomplished the feat — Beaver did so last year — but only the third time since 1999.
“I’m so happy for the girls,” Neshannock coach Jackie Lash said. “We had high expectations at the start of the season. We set our three goals: a section championship, a WPIAL championship and a PIAA championship. As you achieve each one of those goals, it just feels better and better.”
FINAL SCORE: Neshannock 4, Conwell-Egan 1.
— Steve Rotstein (@SteveRotstein) June 17, 2022
The Lancers make history as the sixth WPIAL team ever to win a state championship with a perfect record. Second state title in less than three months for the school, which also won the PIAA Class 2A girls basketball title: pic.twitter.com/ImlDKtB7XH
It is the second softball state title in program history for the Lancers, and the second state title for the school this year. Neshannock also won WPIAL and PIAA Class 2A titles in girls basketball — and many of the top players on the hardwood also shined on the softball field for the Lancers.
Senior Neleh Nogay, a first-team all-state point guard, and her younger sister, junior Aaralyn Nogay, both went 2 for 4 with a double. Junior first baseman Hunter Newman, another key member of Neshannock’s basketball team, went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI.
“That was the perfect ending [to my career],” said Neleh Nogay, a Fordham softball recruit.
Neleh wasn’t sure how the team would celebrate the championship, but Aaralyn had something in mind.
“I want Rita’s,” she said with a smile.
Hear from the “Golden Girls,” Neleh and Aaralyn Nogay from Neshannock. You may have heard of them before. They’re fast and good at sports.
— Steve Rotstein (@SteveRotstein) June 17, 2022
Neleh graduates with six WPIAL and PIAA gold medals and 16 medals overall. Aaralyn, a junior, has five gold medals and eight overall: pic.twitter.com/D6TmjKv2ji
Pitcher Addy Frye and third baseman Gabby Quinn emerged as two of the WPIAL’s top freshmen in 2022, and they both put an exclamation mark on their stellar debut seasons on Friday. Quinn went 2 for 3 with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, and Frye pitched a complete game with three strikeouts and one walk while allowing one run on four hits to pick up the win.
“I can’t even explain it,” Quinn said. “I don’t think anybody really expected it [from us]. We came into this year not ranked. It just felt good to beat everybody’s expectations.”
Boom. Gabby Quinn got ALL of that one. The freshman follows up a Hunter Newman double with a 2-run bomb to left, and Neshannock now leads 4-1 after five: pic.twitter.com/vqEJIrtbj7
— Steve Rotstein (@SteveRotstein) June 17, 2022
For the season, Frye finished with a 21-0 record and 175 strikeouts in 110 innings pitched.
“It feels so unreal,” Frye said. “I knew we were going to be good. I didn’t think we were going to go undefeated and win the state championship.”
After Frye escaped a bases-loaded jam with a soft groundout in the top of the first, the Lancers put a pair of runs up in the bottom half to take an early 2-0 lead. After Aaralyn Nogay’s double, Newman delivered an RBI single to bring her home, followed by another RBI single by Gabby Perod.
Conwell-Egan got a run back in the top of the third after a leadoff double by Ang Bresnen. Following a sacrifice bunt, Kaley Brennan roped an RBI single to cut Neshannock’s lead to 2-1. Brennan advanced to third on an error, but the Lancers turned an inning-ending double play when Brennan tried to score on a groundout to preserve the 2-1 lead.
Clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom of the fifth, Newman belted a one-out double before Quinn blasted a no-doubt home run to left-center to give Neshannock some breathing room. Conwell-Egan loaded the bases again in the top of the sixth after a controversial obstruction call, but Frye struck out the side to end the threat.
“Something like that fires Addy up,” Lash said. “A lot of the girls tell me, ‘Mad Addy is better than happy Addy.’ ”
Here’s Neshannock freshman Addy Frye after allowing one run on four hits in a complete game victory to help the Lancers win their second PIAA softball title with a 4-1 win vs. Conwell-Egan: pic.twitter.com/ncwGNlyV3M
— Steve Rotstein (@SteveRotstein) June 17, 2022
Frye then retired the side in order in the top of the seventh to cap off the perfect season, bringing the Lancers their first state title in 10 years and forever cementing their spot in the history books.
“I think about the fact that it was 10 years ago that we won PIAA gold,” Lash said. “I just look at this group of girls, and I know they are as gifted as that group was.”
Steve Rotstein: srotstein@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SteveRotstein.
First Published: June 17, 2022, 5:31 p.m.