West Allegheny softball rolls to playoff-opening win over Fox Chapel, 12-1

WEXFORD — Not many players throughout their high school careers can say that they eclipsed 100 career hits.

Then there are a select few who can do it in the monumental fashion that West Allegheny’s Aubrey Police did Monday night at North Allegheny High School as she collected her 100th career hit in the Indians 12-1 victory in the first round of the WPIAL 5A playoffs over Fox Chapel.

In the 4th inning with an already sizable six-run advantage, Police stepped into the right-hander's batter box for her third at-bat of the contest.

After grounding out to the shortstop in her first two at-bats, the Villanova commit had other ideas in her third trip to the box as she turned on Jillian Hay’s pitch and deposited into the left field bleachers for her milestone hit.

With Police sitting on 99 hits throughout a large majority of Monday night’s first-round matchup, the junior was happy to get the elusive hit out of the way.

“It was relieving to get that hit,” Police told the Beaver County Times following the game. “It has been in my head for a little so to get that hit out of the way was relieving.”

Besides Police’s home run in the bottom half of the fourth inning, the Indians routed the Foxes in the fourth sending 11 batters to the plate and tacking on seven runs on seven hits.

However, that offensive onslaught from West Allegheny took time to brew as the team was ice-cold out of the gates after having to wait for two of the previous games taking place at North Allegheny to conclude.

But for West Allegheny head coach Mindi McFate, after coaching the sport for over 20 years, she made sure to prepare her players in a way that they would be able to find offensive success even after having to wait for an extended period.

“I don’t think that I can think of a time when we were scheduled later in the day for the playoffs and we have started on time,” McFate said. “I told them that they should not warm up too early and sit in the sun because it is going to be a long day. I am really proud of the kids because in the end they showed up and demonstrated the momentum that they needed.”

Even though West Allegheny did not find its way onto the score sheet until the second inning, the Indians were hitting the ball hard and it was only a matter of time before the team would begin to capitalize on their good swings.

That all changed in the second inning when Ava Benigh got the Indians on the board with a massive two-run home run which helped turn the tides for West Allegheny.

“We were hitting the ball right at them and did not get a couple of breaks that we would have liked but Ava Benigh’s home run was the real turning point for us,” McFate said. “With that hit and then Aubrey’s 100th, that in itself just helped us all come together and bring in the success from there.

One of the biggest keys to Monday’s offensive success was West Allegheny’s ability to work deep into counts and make Fox Chapel’s Hay work out in the circle.

When the Indians were deep in counts they were selective on what pitches they wanted to attack which paid dividends and was something that McFate was looking for her team to focus on at the end of the regular season and into the postseason.

“We talk a lot about pitch selection especially as of late because we have struggled a little at the plate because we have been too aggressive and swung at bad pitches,” McFate said. “Now we want our players to be patient at the plate, stay in the zone, if our opponent is going to pitch us outside, we need to take the ball that way, and tonight, we took a lot of balls to right center field more so than we have done all year.”

With West Allegheny’s victory over Fox Chapel, it will now set its sights on its quarterfinal matchup as the Indians will take on no. 11 Greater Latrobe on Wednesday afternoon with a location and time to be determined.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: West Allegheny softball rolls to playoff-opening win over Fox Chapel, 12-1