Trinity pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the first round of the WPIAL playoffs when the No. 14 seed Hillers knocked off No. 3 Hampton, 4-3, in a Class AAA game at the Burkett Complex in Robinson on Monday.
Zack Kenny drove in the winning run on a single in the sixth inning and Nick Riotto pitched a complete game, giving up one earned run while striking out eight. Dustin Galentine had three hits.
Point Park junior second baseman Ashley Morran was named the 2013 Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Player of the Year and also was selected to the KIAC all-conference team.
Morran, a Trinity graduate, was named the top player in the conference with another monster year hitting .388 with 13 home runs and 56 RBIs in 44 games. The 5-foot-10 Morran hit cleanup for the Pioneers (31-13, 22-6 KIAC), who finished second in the KIAC regular season standings and third at the KIAC Tournament.
Morran will be a strong candidate for NAIA Softball All-American, and she was Honorable Mention All-American last year.
When the preseason rankings came out, Trinity was nowhere to be found. Now that the Class AAA Section 2 final standings our out, the Hillers are easy to find, they are right up top. Trinity has completed a worst to first transition going from 2-8 and last place a year ago to 11-1 and first place this season.
“We were quietly confident,” coach Mike Marino said. “The preseason stuff came out and we were kind of lost in that shuffle. We knew the only way we were going to make things happen is if we believed in ourselves.”
They believed in themselves and they made things happen, winning 11 of 12 section games to wrap up the section crown. Trinity’s only section setback was in the second to last section game of the season, a 4-3 loss at South Fayette. The Hillers are section champs because they found ways to win close games, edging Montour 8-7, West Allegheny 9-7, South Fayette 4-2 and Moon 3-0. Trinity wraps up its regular season on Tuesday with a non-section game at defending WPIAL Class AAAA champion Canon-McMillan.
Point Park junior second baseman Ashley Morran was named the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Player of the Week.
Morran, a Trinity graduate, won the award for the second time this season.
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